Government introduces GEN platform to speed up public sector reforms

The government has introduced the Government Empowerment Network (GEN) platform to accelerate public sector reforms, strengthen coordination among government institutions and improve service delivery.

Speaking at a meeting of senior government leaders in Lilongwe on Tuesday, Chief Secretary to the Government Justin Saidi said the platform would help address challenges arising from reforms that require collaboration among multiple ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

Saidi said the government had allowed individual ministries to develop their own reforms to promote ownership and ensure accountability for implementation.

However, he noted that some reforms cut across several institutions, making coordination essential to achieving the intended results.

“That is why we have developed the platform known as GEN, which will help bring together all issues regarding the reforms and determine how best they can be implemented,” Saidi said.

He said the platform would promote a common understanding of government reforms, identify implementation bottlenecks and strengthen cooperation among institutions.

Saidi urged ministries, controlling officers and other MDAs to take responsibility for implementing the reforms, stressing that their success should ultimately be reflected in improvements in the lives of Malawians.

“The success of these reforms should be seen in the way we improve the lives of Malawians through better service delivery,” he said.

He added that the approach marked a shift from previous practices in which reforms were developed centrally and subsequently passed down to individual ministries for implementation.

Saidi challenged government institutions to honour their commitments, warning against failure to deliver on the reforms they had undertaken.

He said ministries should take advantage of the opportunity to design and implement reforms that respond to their specific challenges.

Meanwhile, Instiglio Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Avnish Gungadurdoss described GEN as an accelerated reform platform designed to help government leaders improve public sector performance.

Gungadurdoss said the approach had also been implemented in countries including Uganda, Colombia, Ecuador and Morocco to advance government reforms.

He expressed confidence that the initiative would strengthen Malawi’s civil service and improve its capacity to serve citizens.

“We believe this platform can be a game changer for Malawi’s civil service by helping leaders drive improvements in public sector performance,” Gungadurdoss said.

In his remarks, GEN Malawi Lead Arthur Chibwana said the initiative would build the capacity of public officers and establish a network of reform champions to accelerate the implementation of public sector reforms.

Chibwana identified resistance to mindset change and limited capacity to analyse challenges, develop solutions and translate them into practical action as major obstacles to successful reforms.

“Some of the challenges are related to mindset change and the capacity to analyse problems, develop solutions and translate those solutions into practical action,” he said.

He emphasised the need for strong leadership and guidance to ensure that reforms move beyond planning and deliver tangible improvements across government institutions.