June 03, 2011

DWU President Fr Jan Czuba (left) signing the 17-point Kalibobo Declaration with DPM Secretary, John Kali assisting at the Sana Room of Madang Resort Hotel on Friday 3rd June, 2011.	Acting Prime Minister, Sam Abal also signs the Kalibobo Declaration on behalf of the Government as Attorney General and Justice Minister, Sir Arnold Amet looks on.
Fr Czuba (left) and Mr Juffa signing the MOU paving the way for partnership in training customs officers at the Madang campus on Friday 3rd June, 2011.	Nine of the 11 district administrators from Mamose region and Eastern Highlands province with lecturer, Christopher Karaiye (seated left) at the DWU campus in Madang for the inaugural residential studies last week.

Divine Word University (DWU) will play a major role in training public servants to do their work better and in a more ethical way.

This follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and a declaration with the government agencies in two separate ceremonies in Madang on Friday 3 June, 2011.

Earlier in the day, DWU President Fr Jan Czuba and the Commissioner of Customs Gary Juffa signed an MOU for partnership in the training of customs officers.

In the afternoon, Fr Czuba signed the 17-point Kalibobo Declaration with heads of government departments and Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal. The Kalibobo Declaration came at the end of a senior public servants’ two-day working retreat in Madang where they devised the “Ethics and value-based Leadership and Management Framework” for the PNG public service.

The workshop was facilitated by the Public Sector Workforce Development Program sponsored by AusAID through the Australian Public Service Commission and the PNG Department of Personnel Management (DPM).

The Kalibobo Declaration accords DWU the responsibility to train district administrators and public servants at the middle and senior management levels.

DWU is offering the training of public servants in two parts – a bachelor in public sector management and a Masters in Public Administration.
The bachelors program began on Monday 6th June, 2011 at the DWU’s Faculty of Flexible Learning. This brought together district administrators of the Mamose region and Eastern Highlands province. The program is being delivered on the flexible learning mode and the district administrators have been at the Madang campus for the one week residential component of the studies. District administrators in other three regions will follow soon after.

The MOU that Fr Czuba and Mr Juffa signed is the first step toward the training of customs officers, the first onshore training by a national university.

Mr Juffa said he expects DWU to offer training of his officers at entry level, middle management, executive and technical levels.

He said his vision is to have a “PNG Customs Academy” eventually where DWU’s expertise in education and training will be required.

To date, PNG Customs provides on-the-job training and sends officers to Australia.
Juffa said it has been costly sending staff to Australia for training over the years and a local alternative such as the one proposed at DWU would be welcomed.

Fr Czuba said the management degree program will be the first training to be offered to Customs officers starting this month while specific customs training will begin next year.

Mr Juffa and Fr Czuba said DWU would provide training from certificate up to Master degree levels.

Ethics – which is a core subject across all DWU programs – will be taught in all the courses to be offered to the public servants including the customs officers. Mr Juffa and Fr Czuba concurred, that customs officers are on the frontline of a lot of illegal activities at the borders of the country and they need to be well versed with ethics in their training.

Mr Abal also told the public servants that what they had done in the two day workshop was important and they have to “put meat to the bone” by making it work.

“As a result of the discussions and workshop activities you have developed the foundations of an executive leadership and Management development framework designed to promote ethical, effective and efficient leadership.”

“This is truly valuable work which will enhance the professionalism of the PNG public servants and will contribute to significant improvements in service delivery,” the Acting Prime Minister said.

In both of the signing ceremonies, it was made clear that ethical conduct in public service work is critically important in a country where corruption and unethical conduct amongst public office holders is a national concern. It was apparent in the discussions in both gatherings that DWU with its rich Christian heritage and reputation of promoting ethics in its academic programs has been considered as the appropriate catalyst for change in public servants who study at the University