an African leader of tomorrow scholar: My experience with ipac at the ipac 70th annual conference in Quebec, 2018

IPAC is one of the first organizations I got linked up with upon arrival in Canada in 2017 as an African Leader of Tomorrow scholar. The familiarization and adaptability lessons to make my stay in Canada enjoyable though a new environment with unknown challenges ahead, were ground breaking.
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Debunking the myth of leaping in the dark or the fear of the unknown in the simplest manner made me ascertain my choice for Canada and not Britain nor Australia where I found good opportunities to enrich my international experience. This first move was the guiding principle of the positive impression I developed for IPAC. The IPAC monthly newsletters I receive and personal findings revealed the grandeur of the Institute. 

In addition, IPAC supported my studies with a mentor whom I wasn’t lucky to have any fruitful time with, so that ignited my curiosity about IPAC’s role in Canada’s Public Policy/Administration. As a graduate student in Public Policy (Environmental Policy) with little interaction with public administrators unlike in Cameroon where I participated in inter-ministerial meetings, I sought for opportunities to feel the realities of public administration in Canada to compare and draw lessons for Public Administration in Africa, especially after winning the policy competition of NL. I was lucky to participate in the 70th Annual Conference in Quebec, 2018.

The 70th Annual Conference in Quebec: A combination of business and pleasure/ “Joindre l'utile à l'agréable”
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Coming from a small city, Corner Brook, in NL, my entry into the big and beautiful Quebec City blew my mind and raised my expectations of the conference although my accommodation wasn’t welcoming. The conference organization, the set up and presentations blended with the great oldest North American city. In fact “l’apparance n’etait pas trompeuse” as the level/magnitude of the conference was complementary with beauty and maturity of the city. The choice of “maturity” likened to age and great comportment to describe the Quebec is as a desire to reveal my take of take of the IPAC Conference.

Key take home lessons from the Quebec conference

The choice of the conference theme, Public Administration Under Pressure, and most of the workshops was on point in this era where things move at a convulsive speed. The frank talks, conviviality and the desire to continuously learn despite years of experience was breath taking. There were good take home lessons with recommendations such as;

• Collaboration between administrators and the public for the sustainability of public projects,
• Cooperation within and between administrative systems for vertical and horizontal co-production with better results,
• Co-management where every stakeholder or actor is motivated through trust to help administrative machinery achieve expected goals.

The above recommendations among other rich capacity building workshops triggered the desire to go and improve on public service delivery with expected testimonies in Winnipeg in 2019, which I encourage all public servants to attend if they can.

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Author: Tamufor N. Emmanuel. M.A. Candidate in Environmental Policy, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada (ALT Scholar).
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