Russia

The Russian Academy of Public Administration (RAPA) is the training and professional development arms of the Russian Presidential Administration. Since 2004, CIDA has funded a partnership between Carleton University and RAPA, the objective of which is to assist RAPA in the development of a more professional public service. This particular project is part of CIDA’s GAEP (Governance Advisory and Exchange Program) initiative.
Over the past three years, there have been study tours to Canada and several Carleton professors have traveled to Russia to teach selected segments of training programs. The partnership has resulted in the creation of a Joint Certificate in Municipal Management, a Joint Certificate in Regional Management, and a Joint Certificate in Good Governance, with a further joint certificate in Northern Management developing in 2008.

The most recent study tour by RAPA delegates centered on the issue of modernizing public administration and took place from 30 November – 12 December 2007, during which time nine delegates focused their learning on the following objectives:

I. The evolution and functions of the Canadian public service: specifically,

• its functions, mandates, legal status and  impact of recent modernization
• the legal (normative) framework of the public service, as well as the rights, duties and responsibilities of public servants
• the public service staffing system
• the public service recruitment system, with particular respect to certain functions such as military and food inspection
• non-partisan nature of the public service and the rules which govern political activity on the part of public servants
• financial security for public servants: how pay and benefits are earned
• state and social safeguards for the public service

II. Canadian experiences with public service reform:

• What factors contributed to Canada’s decision to modernize its public service
• An overview of how the public service has been modernized
• Mechanisms for drafting, developing and adopting legislation on public service reform
• How are the code of values and ethics enforced for public servants
• How is their performance measured and rewarded
• The role of effective methods, innovation and best practices in optimizing the public service

III. Administrative/legal culture and professional ethics in the Canadian public service

• How are various categories of work classified
• Recruitment: processes of competition and selection
• Retention: processes of competition, promotion, career building and rotation
• Division of labour: processes of distribution of tasks among public servants, as well as the categorization of rights and responsibilities among public servants