Kenya’s state officers to join Pan-African governance training by Italy

Senior public officials from Kenya, Ethiopia, Tunisia and Ivory Coast are set to undergo an intensive capacity-building programme aimed at strengthening governance, leadership and public sector management.

African governments are grappling with increasingly complex economic, technological and development challenges.

The three-year initiative, spearheaded by the Italian National School of Administration (SNA), seeks to equip public servants with modern skills needed to improve service delivery, strengthen institutions and accelerate sustainable development across the four countries.

The programme, which began in July 2025 and will run until October 2027, forms part of Italy’s broader development cooperation agenda and the Mattei Plan for Africa.

It is designed to enhance the effectiveness, transparency and responsiveness of public administrations by providing advanced training to senior government officials and public sector trainers.

In Kenya, the programme will be implemented in partnership with the Kenya School of Government, while partner institutions in the other participating countries include the University of Civil Service in Ethiopia and the national administration schools in Tunisia and the Ivory Coast.

More than 150 officials and trainers from each country are expected to participate during each training cycle.

Participants will be drawn from government institutions and selected based on merit, career potential and their ability to operate in diverse professional environments.

The training programme comes at a time when many African governments are pursuing public sector reforms to improve accountability, strengthen institutions and embrace digital transformation.

Organisers say modern public administrations require highly skilled officials capable of responding to emerging challenges ranging from cybersecurity threats to rising public debt and the growing use of artificial intelligence.

Training will focus on five key areas. These include leadership and managerial development, public procurement, digitalisation and cybersecurity, public policy formulation and implementation, as well as public debt management, innovative financing mechanisms and tax collection.

Particular emphasis will be placed on training-of-trainers programmes to ensure that knowledge acquired during the initiative can be transferred to future generations of civil servants long after the project concludes.

The structure of the programme combines online and physical learning. Participants will first undergo virtual sessions to establish common foundational knowledge before attending in-person courses in their respective countries.

Additional online learning modules will follow, culminating in a final residential training phase in Caserta, Italy.

The Italy-based sessions will also include study visits to key public institutions in Rome, offering participants an opportunity to observe governance practices and exchange experiences with Italian counterparts.

The entire process will be repeated across two training cycles running through 2027.

Oversight of the programme will be provided by a steering committee chaired by the SNA President and comprising representatives from all partner institutions. The committee will meet regularly to monitor implementation and assess progress.

Beyond individual skills development, the initiative aims to strengthen institutional capacity, deepen cooperation between African public administration schools and foster stronger Africa-Italy partnerships.