ASTANA – The Academy of Public Administration under the President of Kazakhstan and the European Union project on modernising and reforming Kazakhstan’s civil service have collaborated to create distance-learning training programmes for the newly appointed Kazakhstan’s A Corps of civil servants and regional akims (mayors).
The online distance learning course organised for the civil service A Corps was the first of its kind in Kazakhstan. The practice-oriented training modules used technologies from leading research centres around the world and covered strategic planning and budgeting, personnel management in state agencies, development and managerial decision making.
The final stage of training, held Feb. 24-26, focused on developing personal leadership, creating leadership development strategies, developing personal competence and decision making. Using training cases, the A Corps managers practiced working in teams, making management decisions and working with information sources in tight time frames. Participants who passed the course were given certificates confirming their completion of the training.
Five training courses are planned for administration officials this year.
Via an online broadcast to regional civil service training centres, 300 akims (mayors) of small regional cities, rural districts, towns and villages took part in a training seminar on the implementation of 67 local government functions. The functions fell into categories including taxation, budgeting, providing employment and organising gatherings. A number of akims also spoke about development in their regions. Participating akims received certificates of completion after the training.
The akims will also receive regular training through an 80-hour programme developed by the Academy of Public Administration, the EU civil service reform project and the National Centre of Education. The training will be conducted in regional training centres.
Alikhan Baimenov, chairman of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs, said, “Strong local authority means a strong state. The attitude of citizens [towards] civil service in rural areas where more than 40 percent of the population of the country lives depends largely on the activities of town akims. This work is very important in strengthening the statehood of Kazakhstan.”
The seminar was attended by representatives of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs, the Academy for Public Administration, ministries and departments, the Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund and the Kazagro National Holding.
