An overview of public administration: education and training programmes to improve policy capacity in the Ethiopian Civil Service.

Abstract

Public policy knowledge and skills are required to transform the Ethiopian civil service and to assist Ethiopia in developing and transforming to a middle-income economy. Accordingly, the study on which this article is based aspired to establish whether Public Administration education and training programmes being used at Ethiopian universities include public policy capacity development in order to provide civil servants with the policy skills that they need to function effectively in the execution of public policy processes. This is done through providing an overview of the Public Administration education and training programmes currently being used in Ethiopia as well as explaining the civil service training setting in Ethiopia. In addition the importance of equipping Ethiopian civil servants with public policy skills and knowledge to be effective in their profession is also contextualised in this article. The study found that although current Public Administration education and training programmes in Ethiopia include some policy knowledge and skills this is very limited and it is therefore recommended that more universities in Ethiopia, especially in remote areas, consider offering Public Administration to meet the need for a public policy-educated and trained civil service.