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Sigma support for the establishment of professional civil services focuses on structural elements, such as civil service legislation, salary systems, and human resources management. Assistance in drafting and passing civil service legislation takes a comparative approach, providing expertise from EU Member States. Sigma also assists partner countries in developing their civil service management systems and tools.
Support in this area includes assistance in developing the administrative legal framework. Sigma promotes an exchange of professional expertise and offers advice on the organisation and functioning of the public administration. Sigma also advises on improving the quality of administrative performance and on methods for the delivery of public services.
Sigma has produced several policy papers in this area. All of these documents are availalble on the Sigma website, and Sigma Papers are also distributed on OLIS.
Conflict of interest in the public sector
In 2005 Sigma carried out a study of the approaches to managing conflict of interest in the public sector of nine European countries - six "old" EU members (France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK) and three "new" EU members (Hungary, Latvia and Poland). The resulting descriptive data and analytical review includes conclusions that are worth taking into account when developing policies and instruments to improve regulations and practices relating to conflict of interest. Sigma Paper no. 36, Conflict-of-Interest Policies and Practices in Nine EU Member States
Organising the central state administration
This Sigma study focuses on the organisational dimension of national administrations and the impact of "agencification" on governance structures. It refers in particular to the accountability mechanisms that EU Member States have (or have not) put in place to ensure policy coherence across the state administration, control of public funds, and responsiveness of the government as a whole to the expectations of citizens. Sigma Paper No. 43, Organising the Central State Administration: Policies and Instruments
Sustainability of reformed civil services
Sigma is currently preparing a study on the sustainability of reformed civil services. The paper will examine the status of civil service reforms in the eight new Member States of Central and Eastern Europe since EU accession in 2004, with a view to drawing lessons about reform sustainability that could be used in the design of civil service reform strategies in potential EU candidate countries. The study will also provide an opportunity to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of EU pre-accession support to civil service reform and help to identify the areas of civil service reform that could benefit from further EU support. The results of the study will be published as a Sigma Paper in autumn 2008.
Multi-country workshops
Sigma also disseminates information on issues of interest to partner countries by posting on the website the expert papers presented to workshops and seminars. Recent meetings have focused on such topics as quality management in the public sector, remuneration systems for civil servants and salary reform, and building a professional civil service. The seminar papers are available on the website.
More on Sigma's priority activity areas.
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