Deadline: 31-Jul-2024
The African Association for Public Administration and Management (AAPAM) is pleased to announce the Innovative Management Award.
The AAPAM Innovative Management Award is a continent-wide award programme, designed to recognize institutions, organizations and ministries which have adopted innovative and homegrown approaches to strengthen the delivery of public services in the Continent.
The Awards will be given at the 43rd AAPAM Roundtable Conference to be held in Uganda, 26th to 29th November 2024. Winners and other leading entries will be extensively publicized with their executive summaries and featured in the AAPAM Website, publications, and other international networks.
Purpose and Objectives
- The purpose of AAPAM-IMA is to contribute to the innovative development of public administration and management practices in Africa through the effective realization of the African aspirations for the ‘Africa We Want’ as set in the African Agenda 2063 and transform the world with goals determined in the Global Agenda 2030, ‘Transformation of Our World’.
- Specific objectives:
- The specific objectives of the Award are the following:
- To recognize and publicize innovations in the Public Sector that are worthy of emulation.
- To enhance the image of the Public Sector in Africa through the promotion, recognition and dissemination of effective, innovative, and accountable service delivery approaches and practices.
- To promote innovation in the Public Sector by encouraging and recognizing organizations and people for creative and effective ways of solving specific challenges of administration and management in the implementation of the 2030 agenda and Agenda 2063 to achieve the SDGs.
- To facilitate the transfer of innovations and best practices, including digital transformation as a way of improving the quality of Public Administration and Management in Africa.
- To encourage and promote the culture of Innovation in public sector governance and service delivery through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
- The specific objectives of the Award are the following:
- With the above objectives the Award is also intended to serve as a platform for:
- Advocacy for innovation and digital transformation for improving the delivery of public services and performance in general of public sector institutions.
- Research and learning through identifying best practices in digital transformation and public service delivery in Africa.
- Capacity development through sharing and replication of successful practices in digital transformation and service delivery.
- Partnerships and exchanges for the effective performance of public sector institutions in Africa.
- Hence through the Innovative Management Award, AAPAM promotes and rewards innovations and excellence in Public Service, in support of the realization of global and continental development Agenda including the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Award recognizes African initiatives in Public Administration and Management that demonstrate creativity and innovation in the improvement of service delivery to the citizens of the Continent.
Categories
- For the IMA of 2024, the Award will be given in the following Categories:
- Category One: Enhancing effectiveness of public sector institutions to achieve SDGs.
- Category Two: Promoting digital transformation in public sector institutions for effective service delivery.
- Category Three: Promoting quality and equity in public service delivery.
Criteria
- Entries shall be made by a Ministry/Organization/Authority. Submissions can also be made by Division/Section within organizations. All government ministries, departments and agencies, public sector institutions, local governments and municipal authorities and institutions of higher learning in African countries, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations and international organization are eligible to participate in the competition.
- The initiative must be innovative and relevant to one of the IMA categories indicated in this call for applications.
- While applicants can apply in different categories, an application should not be submitted in more than one category.
- Awards will not be given to individuals but to organizations.
- Submissions shall be made on a prescribed entry form and shall not exceed 1,500 words with an executive summary of not more than 50 words. All supporting materials, not exceeding three per submission, shall be placed in an appendix. Written submissions will NOT be accepted. All submissions will be made electronically via Google form.
- A submission entered in a previous competition, but which was not among the winners in that year, may be re-submitted for consideration by the Jury, provided that no submission shall be considered more than three times.
- Applications may be made in English, Arabic, or French languages. However, all Arabic and French submissions shall be accompanied by one summary page of official English translation.
- Participants will submit their consents indicating their approval to attend an in-person presentation in Zambia in case they are selected among the shortlisted top nominations.
- The Jury shall consist of seven (7) distinguished persons who are knowledgeable in public sector management.
- The Jury will draw up a final list of 5 entrants. The finalists will be invited to appear before the Jury to present and defend their submissions. The Jury will then determine the winners for the Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards.
- The five finalists will be given opportunity to present their entries at the Annual Roundtable Conference following which the Winners in the three categories will be announced and the Awards given.
- The decisions of the Jury shall be final. The jury may decide not to award prizes if the submissions in any one year are not up to standard.
- The best three entrants shall receive the Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards in order of merit. The other two finalists may receive recognition trophies.
Ineligible
- Applications will be disqualified for the following reasons:
- Failure to observe the submission rules for the application.
- Any conflict of interest and non-adherence to the process by those concerned.
- Presenting misleading and false information and supporting documents.
- Inability to provide sufficient documentation to review the initiative.
- Unethical behaviour, including undue pressure on any person involved in the evaluation and selection process.
For more information, visit AAPAM.