Active Learning That Helps Public Administrations Change
For dimensions and complexity, the Office of the Prime Minister is comparable to a Ministry. Furthermore, it doesn't have a single focus but deals with many topics and has diverse jurisdictions. Mara Spatuzzi, a manager of the Office, thinks that the Intranet could be used in order to obtain a better integration and yesterday she explained how to do it by presenting her project at the final workshop of the fifth edition of the Executive Master in Management delle Amministrazioni Pubbliche (EMMAP).
The innovation projects are the most important activity of the EMMAP program. Participants are asked to prepare a draft for the authority they work for. A total of 47 projects designed by public managers who have attended the program will be presented in the two-day workshop. The workshop is part of B4Gov - Bocconi for Government Week. Among the topics covered this year technological innovation stands out as a driver of change and cost efficiency. Some projects discussed yesterday dealt with value creation through organization and technology. Today another key issue will be discussed: given the scarcity of public resources, how can public and private collaborate to meet the needs of the community?
It will be interesting, then, to see how another manager of the Office of the Prime Minister, Luigi Sant'Andrea, has developed a model of public-private co-financing aimed at improving the synergy between EU, Government and Regions resources in order to attract private financial resources for cultural events and initiatives. "It's a good example of public entrepreneurship", the project's tutor Veronica Vecchi says.
"We promote active learning", says Raffaella Saporito, EMMAP director. The idea is that people learn by doing rather than by listening. "These projects are an educational device used to translate into reality the knowledge assimilated in the classroom. There's a second goal: we want to use EMMAP as a lever for public administration change". Participants in the master are mostly 35-45 years old and are confident of the possibility of bringing real change at a time of great evolution in the PA. "Ten years ago the dominant innovation projects concerned the introduction of management systems. Today the common knowledge is that people skills make the difference, not their tools".
The projects launched in the past are bearing fruit for both the PA and the EMMAP participants. During the first edition of the master Luca Marchesi, an ARPA Lombardia manager, proposed a revision of the performance management system of the agency. He has become general manager of the Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Roberto Giarola has conducted an analysis of the strategic positioning of the Department of Civil Protection at the Presidency of the Council. He then proposed a revision of the way the department is managed according to the role of coordination of civil protection rather than one of replacement of local governmental authorities. "His analysis" Saporito says "is the foundation of a proposal of innovative shake-up that engaged managers and personnel of the Department of the Prefect Gabrielli and is currently being finalized".