NU and the Academy of Public Administration trained Kazakhstani civil servants

50 senior civil servants were trained under the “Leader of a New Formation” program. The training was attended by vice ministers, deputy Akims of regions, cities and districts, heads of departments of the Presidential Administration, as well as representatives of the President’s personnel reserve.

The training provided an opportunity for participants to learn more about behavioral economics, scenario planning, design thinking, and also introduced civil servants to the latest research in the field of leadership, mentoring and crisis communications.

The training was conducted by teachers from the Graduate School of Public Policy of Nazarbayev University (NU GSPP) in partnership with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore and the Academy of Public Administration.

Civil servants completed a 10-week course aimed at developing three areas of competence: “Global vision”, “Effective communication” and “Transformational leadership”. Classes were held in a variety of formats: from strategic sessions, interactive discussions and trainings to case study discussions and work in small groups.

“There were 10 modules in total, 240 hours of training. The trainers held a series of sessions to develop an educational trajectory, areas of study, and course methodology. The main goal of the training was to improve the skills of the trainees required for the leaders of the new formation. And I very much hope that each student who participated in the training received the necessary knowledge and was able to further improve his potential and competencies” said the rector of the Academy of Public Administration Yerlan Abil.

“We are convinced that good governance matters, and we are grateful for the opportunity provided to us through our partnership with the Academy to move forward on our mission to improve the lives of Kazakhstanis. We hope that participants learned about new trends in scenario planning and forward-thinking, the use of behavioral insights in public policy decision-making, and various ways to innovate in programming, public service delivery and governance that will help you serve the people of Kazakhstan more effectively. ” – emphasized Weng Tat Hui, Dean of the Graduate School of Public Policy at Nazarbayev University.

Upon completion of the course, the participants shared their impressions of the training.

“Many thanks to all organizers and coaches! It was a mega-cool project that gave me an opportunity to broaden my horizons and master new instruments. However, the most important thing is another conviction that we are surrounded by worthy people and true patriots! Good luck and success to everyone! After all, our success is a contribution to the success of our country!  – Saken Shayakhmetov, deputy Akim of Pavlodar region, shared his emotions and impressions about the training.

The need to implement the “Leader of the new formation” program was first voiced by the First President Nursultan Nazarbayev in his Address “Growing prosperity of Kazakhstanis: increasing income and quality of life” on October 5, 2018. Elbasy instructed NU GSPP, together with the Academy of Public Administration, to conduct trainings for managers and civil servants.