SILAG inks MOU with Madang Provincial Administration

The Somare Institute of Leadership and Governance, SILAG, has penned a milestone agreement with the Madang Provincial Administration, creating an opportunity for public servants within the Administration to undergo public service training at the Institute.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Institute's Chief Executive Officer, Michael Barobe, and Madang's Acting Provincial Administrator, Daniel Aloi, at Divine Word University recently.

The agreement is said to be a grand milestone for SILAG as it paves the way for a new partnership to deliver much needed training programs to the staff of the Madang Provincial Administration, the districts and local level government officers in the province.

CEO Barobe initially began discussions with Governor Ramsey Pariwa on the possibility of getting the Madang Provincial Administration onboard for SILAG training packages in 2023.

He told members of the Provincial Management Team, who witnessed the signing that SILAG is like a workshop where public servants go to improve and refine their public service skills and knowledge.

"This school has been going on for a long time, since 1971. Our forefathers, including the founding prime minister, Sir Michael Somare, whom the Institute is now named after, and very senior public servants, have been trained at this institution. What SILAG is doing now is reaching out to government institutions and forging partnerships with them instead of expecting them to come to us," he said.

Mr Barobe emphasized, "that in any organisation, you must have competent people to deliver services, and so the work that we do is simply providing competent- based training and capacity to the public service to help improve their performances.

Before coming to Madang last week, the CEO stopped by in Simbu, where the province's senior public servants were also undergoing a training by SILAG.

He said the government is working towards elevating the status of SILAG into a university for public servants, and very soon, anyone wishing to join the public service is required to undergo some formal training at this university. Otherwise, without a SILAG certificate, it will be impossible to join the public service.

Acting Provincial Administrator Daniel Aloi said, "The capacity needs of our government of the day, and especially when it comes to the implementation of government policies in the provinces and districts, I give my due recognition to SILAG in terms of the mandatory responsibility that is entrusted to you to train public servants. In the areas of implementation, you know very well that the workforce in terms of the government systems is very complicated, not so much in the provinces, but in the districts where the implementers are. So, where we are, there is a need for building capacity and capacity training, which are critical."

Mr Aloi thinks there must be a way to address this, if not, arrest this criteria as most officers have reached their retirement dates.

He added that the capacity gap is a big problem in the provinces and districts, and it is their responsibility to make sure their officers are given new skills and competency training.

The Acting PA also said Governor Pariwa is very much in support of the initiative, and the Madang Provincial Administration looks forward to working in collaboration with SILAG to progress trainings for its officers.