Do things differently - Issachar

Accra, May 29, GNA - The Head of the Civil Service, Mr. Joe Donkor Issachar, has urged civil servants who have benefited from the on-going training programmes to do things differently to bring the necessary changes required for the civil service to recapture its past glory.

He said as leaders, they should do everything humanly possible to effect the changes in attitudes and behaviour required to move the country forward to achieve the middle-income status by 2015.

The Head of Civil Service was closing a 10-day training of trainers workshop on Design and Facilitation Skills for senior civil servants in Accra.

The programme was to address three main areas in the field of training of trainers, support to the trainers to develop the requisite training modules in the areas of leadership, skills and productivity improvement techniques and execution.

A statement issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service said Mr Issachar observed that change could manifest itself when a few dedicated and committed ones decided to bring about the much-needed transformation. "We all yearn for change in the civil service as a result of the criticisms we receive. These criticisms have painted a negative picture, as if civil servants do not work at all, but we can change the perception if only we change our attitudes."

He said the Civil Service Training Institute in Accra was being refurbished to host training programmes that would be facilitated by civil servants.

When the place is ready, "I will call upon you to design and facilitate the training programmes for the benefit of the middle level class of the civil service".

The subject areas would address some of the inadequacies in the areas of leadership, ethics, productivity and improved techniques that were so critical to the development of the country. "What the office of the Head of the Civil Service is envisioning is a modernized and professional service where people work with the right skills and intellect."

Mr. Issachar urged civil servants to take pride in themselves for their valuable contribution to the development of Ghana. Mr Murakami Hiroshi, Resident Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), charged participants to establish network among themselves to exchange ideas to move the civil service forward. He pledged JICA's preparedness to support the Office of the Head of Civil Service to transform the Ghana Civil Service.

Mr Edwin Barnes, Chief Director, Office of the Head of Civil Service, who chaired the function, urged participants to allow change to manifest itself at their workplaces.

"We have had a lot of talking through such training programmes and as you leave here if in the next few months you have been able to change even 10 people at your workplace, then I tell you the rippling effects on the entire civil service will be felt and you would have become ambassadors of change," he said.