The three-day Human Resource (HR) Network Retreat orchestrated by the Office of the Public Service Commission (PSC) at Ramada Resort in Port Vila has ended mid this week, leaving a trail of enhanced capabilities across ministries.

The event, which unfolded on Monday, January 22, 2024, was strategically designed to provide crucial training for capacity development, elevating the skills and knowledge of Human Resource officials across all 13 Ministries.

Gratitude was extended by Mr. Jonathan Iavere, the Acting Secretary General (SG) for PSC, to the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for their financial support and efficient administration of the workshop.

He revealed that as an outcome, an agenda for bi-monthly HR Network training until July 2024 will be formulated.

In his address, Mr. Iavere emphasised the imperative of utilising the wealth of experience and knowledge garnered during the retreat. “What you learn from this retreat will equip you as an HR professional in your future endeavors…learning is everything,” he added.

Representing the participants, Mrs. Cyndia Albert expressed appreciation for the Human Resource Network Retreat, stating, “This 3-day workshop has given us a handful of ideas, and we have learned a lot of new things which we will slowly get used to in the near future.”

Ministries in attendance included the Ministry of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Education and Training, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Climate Change, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries and Biosecurity, and Ministry of Justice and Community Services.

Over the three days, attendees delved into topics such as Competency-Based Job Descriptions and recommendations for restructuring.

The carefully curated schedule aimed at tapping into the skills, ideas, and experience of HR experts also provided a platform to explore various options. This encompassed scrutinising HRD plans across government ministries and the formulation of an orientation guideline for the public service.

The HR Network Training Needs Survey conducted during the retreat will guide the Vanuatu Institute of Public Administration & Training (VIPAM) in selecting high-priority training for 2024 and beyond.

Mr. Iavere emphasized the collaborative approach, shifting from supply-driven to needs-driven training, providing evidence-based information for VIPAM’s training initiatives.

With the Office of the Public Service Commission set to review its 2024 Business Plan in late February, the Acting Secretary stressed the significance of the survey results. VIPAM’s 2024 business strategy will seamlessly incorporate the training identified as most crucial by respondents in the survey.

The enthusiastic responses and general excitement from participants underscore the Retreat’s success in fostering a vibrant forum for idea sharing and the establishment of a robust HR network across government agencies.

Source : daily Post 27 Jan 2024

At a multi Government agency meeting hosted by the Public Service Commission, held Thursday 15th February to discuss the status of Government initiatives on decentralisation of services to the provinces, significant practical steps were agreed to support on-going upper level consultations being undertaken aby the Decentralisation Working Group. The meeting endorsed building the capacity of the offices of the Secretary Generals (SGs) with additional expertise to support Area Councils as a key focus through the establishment, resourcing and training of the SG’s Corporate Services Unit (CSU). In conjunction, the meeting agreed to a 12-month trial of devolution of programs, staff and resources from two Ministries critical to the economic empowerment and improved services delivery – the Ministry of Finance & Economic Management (MFEM) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forests, Fisheries & Bio-Security (MALFFB).

Cherol Ala, Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office stating “We have talked enough it’s time for action! We need to be more aggressive to make decentralised structures work.’ The time for talking is over, It’s time for action.”

Meeting participants noted that the provinces are the engine room for the growth of the Vanuatu economy. The choice of these two Ministries in the trial reflects their mandate, their bottom-up activities and potential, especially through the Area Councils involvement in decision making and implementation of projects.

Martin Mahe, Chairman of the Public Service Commission concluded: “This is not a small action we are initiating but with our joint commitment we can now take a big step forward to putting into operation the Decentralisation Summit recommendations for achieving the Vanuatu Government’s decentralisation vision.”

PORT VILA, 22nd November 2023. The Vanuatu Office of the Public Service Commission has signed a first ever Memorandum of Understanding with the New Zealand Public Service
Commission on the 17th of November 2023.

This MoU is the first for Public Service Commission institutions in the Pacific Region. It was signed at the end of the FONO 2023- the Pacific Public Service Commissioners’ Annual
Conference in Wellington, New Zealand.

The Acting Secretary of the OPSC as head of OPSC delegation to the FONO 2023, Mr Jonathan Iavere reiterated that this was an initiative discussed between him and the OPSC Chairman to finalize some agreements initiated but due to COVID19, we were unable to materialized them, so to speak Mr. Mahe reiterated again prior to their participation in this important meeting.

“As this is an annual conference where exchange of information and insights in public service developments, challenges and reform opportunities are discussed, we took the advantage to endeavor into seeking opportunities with our PSC partners in this case the NZ Public Service Commission on how we can further improve our PSC here in country in terms of service delivery and capacity building of our employees,” he said. “So, we had the opportunity to meet with the Deputy Public Service Commissioner of the New
Zealand Public Service Commission, Ms Heather Baggott and their legal team to discuss, draft and sign the MoU.”

The MoU is purposely for the parties to engage in an internship program for the Vanuatu OPSC staff in New Zealand, available support to assist intern staff and their immediate family in New Zealand; and cooperation required from NZ PSC to support the VPSC in its policy making.

Mr Iavere also expressed that the MoU also encompassed areas around special category visa for civil servants entering New Zealand for duty or study purposes and labor mobility.

“The idea around Labor mobility is more into getting the seasonal workers in New Zealand certified by their employers and that certification will enable them to access formal training at the Vanuatu Agriculture College upon their return,” he said.

“They will be studying while waiting to go back on their next seasonal work. In this way we will change from informal workers to formal certified workers who will be eligible to work as agriculture field assistants in their islands and assist the Department of Agriculture to improve productivity and skills gained both in the farm and at VAC.”

Mr Iavere mentioned that this will not be the only MoU Vanuatu PSC has signed with New Zealand but has other MoU’s in the pipeline with fellow Pacific countries to assist and improve service delivery as part of the current reforms at the PSC.

In their preparation prior to the conference, the Chairman of PSC and the delegation have discussed and made their stand to support and recognized the participation of Small Island States in this case the state of Tokelau in the PPSC annual conference.

“Although Tokelau was part of the meeting, there was only 16 PPSC members voice recognized in the decision making and with Vanuatu’s firm stand to have Tokelau recognized
inside the board of the PPSC, Tokelau will now have its own representative in future meetings of the PPSC which will bring the membership to 17 altogether,” Mr Iavere stated.

There was a resolution made during the conference that after a 12- month period, the next PPSC meeting will be held in Samoa and was also agreed that the two new board members of FALE representing the Pacific under MSG would be Vanuatu and the Solomon Island.

Vanuatu will be the next Chair of the MSG Public Service Commission Committee in 2024.The Pacific Public Service Commissioners’ Annual conference has taken place across the
region every year since 2004-2019 with a break during 2020-2022 due to COVID-19. The agenda of the conference is set by the Pacific Public Service Commissioners with goals to identify workable approaches to address the needs of the region and to develop co-operative and mutually supporting solutions with Pacific expertise at the center.

Fono 2023: Pacific Public Service Commissioners’ conference is supported by Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission and the Public Service Fale Secretariat

PORT VILA, 26^th September 2023.

The Office of the Public Service Commission has undergone major reforms as it embraces the importance of innovation and change in this modern era.

Recently, a reform-minded Public Service Commission strongly supported by the Vanuatu Government has been putting in place a robust, integrated, and innovative reform program of Vanuatu’s public sector.

The huge structural adjustments are currently being undertaken under the leadership and vision of the Chairman of the Public Service Commission Martin Mahe.

Mr Mahe made the following illustration considering these significant reforms.

“Looking at the reforms already underway is like looking at an iceberg with 1/8 of the iceberg visible above water and 7/8 still invisible under the water line. The reforms to the Vanuatu Public Service are in advanced development but much of the change about to be implemented is below the water line of the public’s eye,” he said.

“A container ship going from top speed to stop takes about 1.8 miles or 2.8 kilometers – the old way of doing things in the Public Service (like the container ships path) must be turned around onto the new course, taking care, extensive consultation, time, effort and commitment yet at the same time married with vision and innovation to deliver the promise and potential of our nation- Yumi 43.”

The office of PSC has the following reforms underway for the first time after Mr Mahe took over the office in November 2022 and a first since the days of the Comprehensive Reform Program 30 years ago:

• A total rewrite of the Public Service Staff Manual (written in 2008) and lacking legislative enforcement procedures has been undertaken through broad consultation with senior Public Servants. The revised manual will be validated and ready for translation, publication, and implementation by the end of October 2023.
• The addition of a new chapter on Performance Management in the PSSM will provide clear policy, procedures, and templates for strong Performance Management to reward high achievement, encourage skills and service delivery but also to provide strategies to deal with under-performance.
• Redrafting of the old Public Service Act of 2008 to bring Vanuatu’s Public Service up-to-date with best practice internationally. Amendments to the Act of new regulations are ready to go to the Parliament with a totally revised Act at an advanced Drafting Instructions stage.
• The new Act will provide comprehensive harmonization with a newly revised Staff Manual through vigorous legislative ‘teeth’, especially in the areas of transparent advertising, recruitment and renumeration as well as management of poor performance and professional behavior.
• The new Staff manual is now linked to a new Human Resource Information Management (HRMIS) integrated with the Ministry of Finance’s SmartStream – providing not only personnel management information on every Public Servant but also on-time data on establishment, leave accruals, sick leave, discipline cases and entitlements. This was developed cooperatively with the OGCIO and private contractors with data already uploaded to ‘Go Live’.

Visionary and competent leadership in this period of change is critical. Consequently, changes to recruitment and Performance Management at Director General, Director and Secretary General levels has been a key focus of the innovation being undertaken:

• Currently 6 Director General positions have been advertised. Concerns about transparent, merit-based short-listing, interview, and selection processes free from interference to promote an independent Public Service meritocracy are being addressed not only in the new Staff Manual and the revised Public Service Act but also through the establishment of a Panel of Peers.
• The establishment of a Panel of Peers will see the selection of eminent Ni-Vanuatu – many former Director Generals and CEO’s who have long experience and knowledge of the skills our new Directors Generals must have. In other words, these men and women are ‘peers’ or equals in Work experience and seniority with those interviewed- not someone from a low level of the Public Service. For each interview of a DG, three Panel of Peers members will be selected who have specific experience and the seniority in the work of the Ministry in which the vacancy has occurred.
• The Panel of Peers approach is a Pacific first and is already receiving considerable interest around the Pacific as a benchmark model.
• The Panel of Peers members are receiving training in competency- based interviews to select the best applicant with knowledge of the managerial skills or competencies required by high performing, strategic, visionary leaders in Vanuatu’s revamped Public Service.
• The same Panel of Peers can then be utilized for regular and rigorous Performance Appraisal backed up with new PSSM and revised Act to deal appropriately with under-performance and reward high achievement.

The office of PSC has also realized that not just mere change at leadership level to help improve Performance Management. To support effective, advertisement and selection throughout the Public Service, a new competency-based Job Descriptions are being introduced:

• An initial batch of 4,700 newly revised Job Descriptions will provide an integrated platform for advertisement, selection, induction, Annual Work Planning and Performance Management Review & Appraisal. All these will be underpinned by a proficient legislative and policy framework through the revised PS Act and PSSM.
• All these changes will require a strong nationwide roll out of training for Public Servants. This is already being implemented by the OPSC’s Human Resource Unit and the PSC’s Vanuatu Institute of Public Administration & Management. A restructuring has been undertaken of VIPAM and procedures are being developed for preparation and delivery of decentralized training.

In addition, a Multi-Agency Decentralization Training Program is being planned to be delivered between 16^th to 20^th October, to deliver not only initial capacity building training required for this raft of Public Service reform but also the momentous changes envisaged to provide decentralized of government services.

The recent Summit on the progress of the National Sustainable Development Plan saw a clear support for the drive of decentralization. A Decentralization Working Group of core GoV agencies, including the OPSC, has been meeting regularly to operationalize the Decentralization Strategy with far reaching changes to procedural, legislative, and budgetary processes.

The Chairman of the PSC Mr. Martin Mahe emphasized that the Public Service Reform being undertaken is not centralized in Vila but in all 6 provinces and 72 area councils.

“Restructures of provincial organizations, innovative budget, reporting, and planning guidelines are all underway. The OPSC has also been restructured. Recruitment is underway to staff a modern Public Service operational wing,” he stated.

Mr Mahe stated “My vision for the Vanuatu Public Service is for it to become a ‘Fit for Purpose’ and People driven organization, providing the people it serves with appropriate and timely services while at the same time making the institution of the Public Service a modern, attractive work environment so that it becomes the Employer of Choice in Vanuatu.