The Director of Organizational Communication at the Institute of Public Administration (BIPA) Mr. Hassan Qamber, said: “The Institute has finished training of 15% of public sector within 3 years”, adding that “the Institute cooperates with more than 26 global institution, seeking to provide the best modes of training to ensure high quality”.
Mr. Qamber also added, in an interview with “Al-Watan” that “the Institute had signed around 9 agreements from 2009 until 2011”, pointing out to the rate of staff commitment to job functions, which was amounted to 85% in July 2011, according to “Hewitt” International Foundation, indicating that the Institute’s activities are focused on training, research and consultancy.
Mr. Qamber continued by saying “The mission of the Institute is to support sustainable change through training, learning and development for the public sector”, revealing of the existence of two post-2014 programs, which are: senior management program and apprenticeship program”.
He said: “The Institute aims to provide a distinguished training services through cadres and expertise of high-efficiency, and create a distinct environment of sustainable education”, pointing out that the Institute is funded from three main sources as follows: “financial credit” provided by the State, Institute's income obtained from training services and consultation studies, and contributions, donations, and grants. The following is the dialogue of the interview:
We would like to know the vision, mission and objectives of the Institute?
The Institute of Public Administration was established under the decree no.65 for 2006, issued by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa on 28th June 2006, and the vision of the Institute is to be: the ideal partner for a distinct development of civil service employees, while the mission is to support sustainable change through training, learning and developing of public sector, in addition the Institute aims to provide distinguished training services through cadres and expertise of high-efficiency and create a distinguished environment of sustainable learning, and develop the capabilities of employees of the public sector to raise their efficiency and performance effectively, as well as to designing and applying advanced training systems, in line with the aspirations of the public.
Are there main tasks underlying Institute’s work?
The Institute is carrying out several main tasks, the most important of which are: holding courses, workshops, seminars and meetings in the field of public administration and training at all levels of public functions, and establishment of a specialized library accessible to researchers and those interested in the field of administrative sciences and training, as well as identifying programs of training, study and research that are appropriate to different levels of public functions of leaders, executives, specialists and others of employment categories.
What is the focus of Institute's activities and services?
The Institute’s activities and services are concentrated on three key areas: training, research and consultancy to achieve a set of strategic objectives established for reaching a superlative way to achieve Institute’s vision.
What are the main sources of funding for “BIPA”?
The Institute is funded from 3 sources; the first is the financial credit billed by the State, and the Institute’s income from delivery of training services and consultancy studies carried out based on a decision from the Board of Directors, as well as contributions, donations, grants and any other resources the Board of Directors decides to accept.
Are the Institute’s training programs limited to a certain area?
The training programs include more than a training course, covering the main objective of the program and the trainee gets approved certification, where these programs comes in response to the training needs in Bahrain, summed up in 3 main programs “leadership programs, fundamental programs, and specialized programs”.
We would like to know about the future plans for training programs?
We currently have 4 programs until 2014 as follows; “executive leadership program, master of public administration, government statistics program and government protocol program”; also the Institute lays down a future plan of two programs for post-2014 as follows “senior management program, which aims to develop the existing strategic leaders, and prepare them in all important aspects to deal with challenges, and the apprenticeship program”.
What are the Institute’s training achievements?
The Institute has granted international accreditation for six-training programs, completion of the training of 15% of public sector employees, Institute’s innovation of “Educational Games” for the executive by-laws of the Civil Service Bureau (CSB), three countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) requested to take advantage of BIPA’s e-training, the Institute’s winning of board membership of the “International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS), and the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA)”, BIPA held the first Gulf forum for training in the public sector in April 2010, success in the e-training experience between GCC countries with the participation of 31 trainees from GCC, in addition to achieving advanced level in BIPA's staff commitment to the working tasks, where the rate was 85% in July 2011, according to the “Hewitt” International Foundation.
How many institutions with which the Institute cooperates?
The Institute is cooperating with more than 26 global institutions in order to provide the best modes of training to ensure high quality and to achieve the greatest benefit from the global expertise and integration with the local expertise.
How many memorandums of understanding signed by BIPA?
In 2009, a number of memorandums of understanding were signed with the Bahrain Institute of Technology, the International Stanford Institute for Research, and the Arab Open University to share experiences in training. In November 2010, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the CSB to re-engineer jobs, wages and government performance management. In 2011, BIPA has signed a number of memorandums of understanding with the Development Project and the Olympic Committee, as well as with Knowledge Evaluation Center, and the Bahrain Institute for Political Development (BIPD), and finally “Ernst & Young”.
What are the Institute's programs and courses?
The Institute's programs and courses are divided into three sections “training programs, short courses and contractual courses”, and the “training programs” include: preparation diploma program for government leaders, customer service program in the government sector, the advanced program in the management of government projects, preparation diploma program for the public sector, the cadre program for the preparation of new government leaders, excellence program in the management of government services, the advanced program in management of government projects, and the customer service program in the government sector. While the short courses consists of 59 sessions, notably: “skills of preparing and writing letters and reports, communication and persuasion skills, strategies for effective success at work, priorities management, strategic planning and decision-making mechanisms, and the arts to adapt to the pressures of work, and Mnemonics techniques and usage in the work place”. Finally, the contractual courses contained one course only.
Does consultation achieve an added-value for the provided services?
BIPA works to identify a comprehensive agenda for an added-value research and consultancy services that will be provided through additional work of the internal resources, and outsourcing in order to develop a research agenda based on the evidence to facilitate the absorption of knowledge and sharing across the public sector, and the Institute plans to continue down this track in a scientific and clear steps, in order to cover the most pressing issues in the field of public administration, such as performance appraisal and staff development, progress in the field of management and policies, and other relevant concepts, which include: jobs and wages re-engineering project, training needs assessment for National Oil and Gas Authority, consultancy in the field of information technology, evaluation center project, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for developing capacities in BIPA, the cooperation between BIPA and universities in the area of compliance with the regulations, and job performance management project