Panel chairs:
Alikhan Baimenov, Chairman of the Steering Committee, Astana Civil Service Hub, Astana, Kazakhstan  Jahi Jahija, State Secretary, Ministry of Information Society and Administration of the Republic of Macedonia, Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia
Bahram Khalilov, Deputy Chairperson, State Examination Center of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku, Azerbaijan

The establishment of a public service in post-Soviet countries is closely connected to the transformation of the role of the state after independence in 1991. Even although the common purpose of reforms for all countries was to build an effective public service, in fact, each country has followed its own unique path in the design and implementation of its public service reform agendas. This is precisely why countries, despite the relatively similar starting positions, have achieved varied results.

Now is the time to assess the progress made, to draw on the lessons learned, and to identify actual problems. Moreover, many methodological aspects of the reforms of the public service of post-socialist countries are insufficiently researched, and this has to systematically and continuously generate knowledge.

 

The main objective of the panel session was to discuss the lessons learned, best practices, and to provide participants with the opportunity to share experience and find ways in which to tackle common issues.

 

Civil service practitioners and academia from Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Uzbekistan, UK, as well as from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, discussed both civil service reform and the development issues of the region.

 

The session was moderated by Alikhan Baimenov, Chairman of the ACSH Steering Committee, who noted that "the period of reforms in the Post-Soviet countries has been less studied by researchers and the lessons learned from these reforms are of great interest.”

 

Ludmila Gajdosova, Executive Director at NISPAcee, noted that the long-term partnership between NISPAcee and Astana Hub has been very fruitful and contributed a lot to the research in public administration and civil service reform in the Post-Soviet countries.

 

The first part of the session began with a presentation by Saltanat Janenova, Professor of the Graduate School of Public Policy of the Nazarbayev University, who spoke on the trajectories of civil service development in the former Soviet Union countries. Jahi Jahija, State Secretary of the Ministry of Information Society and Administration of North Macedonia, shared his views on creating a top management service in Macedonia. Bahram Khalilov, Deputy Chairperson of the State Examination Centre of the Republic of Azerbaijan, presented the development directions in the civil service in Azerbaijan. Garegin Manukyan, Senior Governance and the Public Administration Officer, Public Service Innovation Branch, Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, talked about transformational leadership capacities in public sector institutions to implement the 2030 Agenda and achieve the SDGs.

 

The first round of presentations was followed by a Q&A and comments session. Zamir Torogeldiev, Inspector of the Department of Public Administration Policy and Organisational Inspection Work of the Office of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, opened the second part of the panel presenting the stages of the formation of public service in Kyrgyzstan. Sholpan Yessimova, Vice-Rector for Academic Innovations and Postgraduate Studies of the Khodja Ahmed Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University, shared her views on digital competencies for civil servants. Feruza Yuldasheva, Senior Lecturer of the Department "Public Administration and Law” of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, spoke on the civil service reform and development in Uzbekistan. 
The Hub delegates attended various sessions of the Conference, where researchers and practitioners exchanged their visions on policy and practice issues in public administration.