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Developing Mekong Leaders
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APPLIED LEARNING
Teaching organic farming at the Kyusei Nature Farming and Environment Center in Saraburi Province, ThailandGMS citizens. This was how participants from the countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) attending the Phnom Penh Plan for Development Management (PPP) learning programs styled themselves -- an apt reference in line with the PPP’s goal of creating a critical mass of Mekong leaders and managers, and promoting regional cooperation.
The breakthrough GMS human resources development initiative is a leading effort to train competent and motivated leaders in the Mekong region.
In November 2002, at the First GMS Summit of Leaders in Phnom Penh, the need was recognized for GMS leadership development. The challenge was to establish a pool of highly competent and qualified middle- and senior-level planners and managers to steer economic and social development.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved the PPP in October 2002, with initial funding of $800,000 over 2 years (2003–2004), and continues to support the program alongside the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID).
"If subregional cooperation is our common endeavor, then there is no better breeding ground for friendships and camaraderie among civil servants of the six GMS countries than the PPP"
- Liqun Jin, ADB Vice-President (Operations 1)
About 280 middle- and senior-level officials from Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam have undergone specialized learning in key development areas.
Since 2003, the program has offered 15 learning programs covering themes and topics including governance, leadership, poverty reduction, private sector participation, environmental management, government and civil society participation, regional cooperation, negotiations, strategic management, health care financing, human resource management, and e-governance.
IDEA EXCHANGE A participant shares his thoughts on human resource challenges
“If subregional cooperation is our common endeavor, then there is no better breeding ground for friendships and camaraderie among civil servants of the six GMS countries than the PPP,” said ADB Vice-President (Operations 1) Liqun Jin, at the inauguration of the PPP in December 2003 in Phnom Penh.
Central to the PPP’s philosophy is a commitment to design learning programs in collaboration with the best talent, and to research these programs thoroughly for both content and the target groups they aim to reach. The educational content of the learning programs is a carefully designed blend of cutting-edge knowledge and GMS situations.
And in the spirit of partnership, it has begun creating a supportive institutional network. It collaborates with leading organizations, think tanks, and networks to secure the highest quality learning programs. It offers learning programs not traditionally offered elsewhere but in high demand among GMS public servants, and deliberately focuses on a relatively narrow set of development-related issues.
Among PPP’s key partners are the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok; the Administrative Staff College of India in Hyderabad; the Mekong Institute in Khon Kaen; the Economics and Finance Institute, Phnom Penh; and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The PPP is also working with the GMS Academic and Research Network to develop a GMS development research framework and to participate in the research effort.
SHARING BEST PRACTICES Participants get hands-on training on natural resources management
Going beyond the traditional approach to building capacity, the PPP allows participants to discuss burning development issues. A Learning Resource Center in Phnom Penh will fuel the dialogue and provide the public with “all-that-you-need-to-know information” about the GMS.
The PPP already has a dedicated web site and will also develop a portal to enable PPP alumni to maintain lifelong contacts. Apart from a newsletter, the PPP has launched a GMS Journal of Development Studies to provide a platform for sharing research, reviewing development literature, and fostering debate.
A GMS Distinguished Speaker Series will offer the subregion opportunity to share experience and insights from the world’s leading figures in development, research, and governance.
The PPP seeks to instill in managers a perpetual curiosity about the people and issues that they are charged to lead, and to foster a thirst for knowledge. At the end of each learning program, participants are inducted as PPP alumni and vow to uphold the PPP ideals as part of a lifelong learning experience. They are imbued with a spirit for putting the GMS on the path to high growth with equity.
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