Pact signed to boost managerial and leadership skills

March: The Ministry of Finance (MOF) signed a pact to boost managerial and leadership skills in Oman.

A project agreement for 'National Programme for Leadership Development and Future Foresight' was signed with the University of Arizona (UA) and Institute of Public Administration (IPA), supervising the implementation of the programme.

The agreement was signed under the auspices of Dr Mahad bin Said bin Ali Ba'owain, Minister of Labour and Chairman of IPA Board of Directors, and in the presence of Nasser Al-Jashmi, Secretary-General of MOF, and a number of excellencies and officials.
The agreement was signed by D. Dhafir Al-Shanfari, MOF, Sayyid Zaki Al-Busaidi, CEO of IPA and Joe Carella, Dean of Eller Executive Education at the UA.

This national programme is one of the projects of Partnership for Development Programme (Which is known as Offset worldwide), supervised by MOF, and will fully be funded by LENCO as part of its commitments towards the Partnership for Development Programme.

The programme will be conducted at IPA with the aim to uplift government performance through building the capacity of directors of various government units, and providing them with managerial and leadership skills needed for policy-making and efficiently achieve KPIs.

Throughout the agreement period, the UA will train 150 directors from various government units, and will conduct training courses for national trainers so as to ensure the sustainability of the programme. In addition to provide short courses for 80 people from higher management levels, and 120 employees from various government units. A number of 15 persons will be enrolled in the Advanced Government Leadership programme to be conducted at the campus of UA. The intellectual property rights of the programme will be transferred to IPA.

Under the project agreement, the UA will contribute towards the establishment of center for the preparation of leaders, affiliated to the IPA, through the setting of the center’s action plan and supervising its management during the first year of its establishment. In addition, train the center’s management personnel.

Dr. Al-Shanfari said, “The National Programme for Leadership Development and Future Foresight is consistent with the recent trends in the government’s working methods. We seek through the program to build leadership capacity that help to advance the economic growth. The UA is a leading university in providing executive education programmes.” He also added “We are delighted to implement this programme, which is considered as the 18th project under the Partnership for Development Programme that brought together more than 40 local and foreign partners in order to provide projects aiming at enhancing the military and security capacity. In addition to develop human resources, knowledge transfer, and strengthen private sector.”

Al-Busaidi stated, “The centre for the preparation of leaders reflects a distinct form of partnership between local and foreign entities. It also represents a paradigm shift in the working method of the IPA as the center will bring about scientific impact.”
It is worth noting that the Partnership for Development Programme (Offset) is an economic tool applied over more than 100 countries worldwide for various purposes including economic diversification. It requires foreign companies who enter into mega contracts with the government to invest a specific percentage of their contract value within the country.