Eenhana
Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila says women should not wait for government to shove them into positions, but instead be bold and ambitious and make use of the opportunities availed by government to empower themselves.
“It is not possible for government, after creating opportunities, to come and take women and place them in positions. We have to make use of the opportunities provided to us to empower ourselves,” said Kuugongelwa-Amadhila during the Africa Public Service celebration last week.
The day was celebrated under the theme ‘The role of Public Services in Women Empowerment, Innovation and Accessible Service Delivery in Africa’.
She said government has made great strides in putting policy reforms in place to advance women in the public service.
Currently, women civil servants represent 60 per cent of all employees in the public sector. However, the pace in terms of employing women at managerial level is still relatively slow. Men occupy 59 per cent of management positions in the public service while women represent 41 per cent at that level, despite being the majority gender nationally.
She implored that information and communication technology (ICT) be harnessed, adding that ICT can contribute to poverty reduction and improve public service delivery.
In addition, the prime minister said, when used appropriately ICT provides producers and small entrepreneurs with access to market information, job and business opportunities, business and technical skills and financial services.
“These technologies drive innovation, productivity and efficiency gains across industries, thus contributing to overall economic growth and competitiveness,” said Kuugongelwa-Amadhila.
The prime minister said public servants have to scrutinise the business processes that are followed when carrying out functional and administrative duties.
She said often duties are carried out in a radical manner inherited from supervisors without rethinking, streamlining or redesigning the business process to achieve major improvements in critical measures of performance in terms of cost, quality, service and speed.