NATIONAL SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES A PUBLIC SECTOR EXECUTIVE EDUCATION PORTFOLIO

As announced in the Cabinet statement yesterday, the National School of Government (NSG) is launching the Executive Education Portfolio today in Johannesburg and will host its third Economic Governance Winter School which is part of the Executive Education Portfolio.

The NSG has been delivering a range of executive programmes for several years. There is a growing demand within public institutions. “The NSG has responded to the wider demand by introducing a range of initiatives to attract participants from the political and administrative levels of government across the country and region. For example, high-level masterclasses have been attended by the President, Ministers, Directors-General and many senior officials. We are now going to formally launch this portfolio of programmes and are quite excited by this development”, said the Principal of the NSG, Prof Busani Ngcaweni.

Among the intensive programmes that are already on offer is the Economic Governance School for Members of the Executive. This year, the third iteration of this programme will be attended as a residential Winter School from the 27^th of June to the 1^st of July 2022. The enrolled cohort of public office bearers will include Ministers from Côte d’Ivoire; South Sudan and South Africa; and Directors-General from Lesotho, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Ghana,  as well as local Mayors, Members of Mayoral Committees, and Members of Executive Councils from provincial governments.

Focused learning programmes have also been established for Boards of Public Entities and for senior officials with strategy design, policy formulation, and programme implementation responsibilities in government. Coupled with these, the NSG is in the process of developing additional offerings for the coming years, to create a timely Executive Education portfolio for the public sector.

The NSG Executive Education offerings broadly fall into the following categories, Executive Short Learning Programmes and Courses as well as Master Classes and Seminars.

1.    Executive Short Learning Programmes and Courses:  These are arranged as immersive learning opportunities co-created with senior practitioners and academics, and focusing on application in real contexts of service. Available and forthcoming programmes include the following, among others:

·      Executive Induction Programme for newly appointed senior managers at levels of Directors-General, Heads of Departments and Deputy Directors-General.

·      Etella, an eight-module programme for Accounting Officers in the three spheres of government, state-owned entities, and organs of state accounting officers;

·      Executive Education Programme for Senior Government Officials, offered in partnership with the University College London;

·      Economic Governance School for Members of the Executive for local and continental Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Premiers, MECs, Mayors, and Members of Mayoral Committees;

·      Ethical Leadership and Executive Oversight Programme for Members of the Executive and Accounting Officers;

·      Induction Programme for Boards of Public Entities for serving and aspirant members of Boards of state-owned entities; 

·      Socio-Economic Impact Assessments System (SEIAS) applied as a Policy Making and Implementation Tool, for public office bearers and officials and with policy making, research, and monitoring and evaluation roles

·      Coaching for Leadership Development for individuals, groups or organisational teams.

·      Public Sector Design and Systems Thinking. 

·      Scenario Planning for Public Sector Governance.

·      Mastering Execution Diligence.

·      Local Government Leadership and Oversight Programme for Metros, District and Local Municipality Mayors; and

·      Inclusive Decision Making and Implementation Through IGR and DDM 

2.    Masterclasses and Seminars: These are generally short engagements over a few hours and sometimes over a few hours or a day. In general, these just-in-time sessions are directed at bringing to participants some of the latest thinking on the role of public institutions and the dynamics of the economic, social, and political environment.

As part of its delivery strategy, the NSG also makes extensive use of local and global partners. Partnerships have been established with, amongst others, the University College London, the Civil Service College of Singapore (CSC), and the Ghana Institute of Public Administration and Management (GIMPA). Currently, the NSG has a formal partnership with ten South African Universities as well as collaborative arrangements with many others.

The media is invited to cover the Executive Education programme launch which will take place at Emperor’s Palace on the 24^th of June at 10:00.

For media inquiries contact, Dikeledi Mokgokolo on 082 888 2355 or email Dikeledi.Mokgokolo@thensg.gov.za

Issued by the GCIS on behalf of the National School of Government

24 June 2022