Public Policy, Governance & Administration

Objective:

By attending this highly interactive program, delegates will learn to:

• Describe the character of public bureaucracy and provide a theoretically informed analysis of the contrast between a classic Weberian bureaucracy and the type of public bureaucracy advocated by the New Public Management (NPM).
• Explain the role of bureaucratic, political, and non-state actors in the policy process.
• Contrast the various policy instruments and service-delivery mechanisms used in policy implementation and explain the factors shaping the possibility of successful policy implementation.
• Explain the nature of accountability and comment on approaches to ensuring ethics in administrative governance.
• Explain the significance of social diversity to the making and implementation of public policy and be aware of the relationship between social diversity and the “differential impact” of public policy.

Course Content:

Introduction to Public Policy and Administrative Governance

• What is public policy?
• Concepts of public policy & administrative governance
• The purpose of public policy and its use by governments
• Public policy theories, ideologies and context today
• Public policy positioning

Public Bureaucracy in Theory and Practice

• Problem identification and definition
• Policy formulation
• Information research
• Information analysis
• Policy design
• Policy recommendations

Government, Bureaucracy & Accountability

• Government governance
• Do policies determine politics?
• Classification of public policy types
• Dimensions distinguishing policy-politics relations
• Policy institutions

Administrative Governance & the Challenge of Policy Implementation Today

• Social diversity’s impact on public policy features and governance
• Keeping pace with change
• Aligning governance frameworks with public management structures
• Public policy, governance and administration interplay
• Performance delivery agreements
• Accountability and compliance requirements

Code of Practice for the Governance of Public Bodies

• Oversight arrangements with parent departments
• Alignment of statements of strategy
• Business and reporting obligations
• Audit and risk committees
• Role and composition of boards and the role of the Chairperson
• Board and Committee effectiveness

Target Audience:

This training course is designed for a wide range of Public Sector, Government, and Non-Government Officials involved at various levels and different stages of the policy-making process, who must connect the dots between public policy, governance, and administration.