2018 Forum

The focus this year was on public services in 21st century Africa: their key relation to good governance and effective leadership, new challenges and current shortcomings, the ways and means to strengthen them and make them appealing to the next generation. Without strong public services and committed civil servants, at local, national, regional or continental levels, there will be no efficient delivery of expected public goods and services, nor implementation of any commitment, however strongly voiced. The discussion was organised around three sessions:

• Session 1: Growing expectations for public delivery
• Session 2: Assessing the current supply of public services
• Session 3: Building a sound contract between citizens and public service providers.

Each session was joined by a representative of the Next Generation Forum, held the day before around the same topic and issues. All sessions were streamed live and can be found on the Foundation's YouTube channel, including one-on-one conversations between Mo and Hailemariam Desalegn, former Prime Minister of Ethiopia; Sanjay Pradhan, CEO, Open Government Partnership; and H.E. President Paul Kagame, Chair of the African Union.

Session topics and speakers

Session 1: Growing expectations for public delivery

The first session identified the demand addressed to African public services in 21st Century. What are citizens’ expectations, current and new (safety and security, health, education, justice, but also peace, solidarity, protection against any threat, jobs, business enabling environment, culture, climate change mitigation, rural sector development...). Who should be responsible for addressing these demands (African Union, Regional communities, national governments, cities, private sector, multilateral donors...), and who is going to pay for the delivery.

Chair: Nancy Kacungira, Presenter, BBC News

Session 2: Assessing the current supply of public services

The second session assessed the current state of African public services, the key challenges that need to be addressed, both from the job attractiveness side: salaries, career, mobility, working environment..., and from the delivery side: skills, efficiency, corruption..., and the potential solutions and best practices that can be explored: monetary and non-monetary incentives, capacity building, internal and external mobility, new technologies... The session will also touch upon the challenges of building public services and capacities in post-conflict settings.

Chair: Ngaire Woods, Dean, Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University

Session 3: Building a sound contract between citizens and public service providers

The last session discussed how to build a sound contract between citizens and public service providers, making sure that the supply is answering the demand, embedding accountability through monitoring mechanisms and strengthening ownership through the tax contract.

Chair: Nancy Kacungira, Presenter, BBC News