VISION

A transformed, cohesive public sector that is performance-based, efficient, cost-effective and service-oriented

MISSION

To establish an efficient, responsive and cost-effective framework of operations for the public sector through extensive analyses, stakeholder consultations and social dialogue to promote good governance that will facilitate national growth and development

MANDATE

To lead, monitor, evaluate and facilitate the implementation of the restructuring of the public sector for efficient, effective and economical Government.

BACKGROUND

“The current national and global imperatives have impelled the Government of Jamaica to accelerate the modernisation and restructuring of the public sector to become leaner, more efficient, flexible, responsive and accountable. The rationalization of the public sector will demand a radical restructuring of established organizations and systems, including a review of their mandates and related objectives, introduction of incentives, development of an accountability framework, decentralization of authority and rationalization the organizational culture”.- Ministry Paper No. 114, "Strategy for the Restructuring of the Public sector"

The foregoing quotation aptly sums up the task of the Public Sector Transformation Unit which began its work on November 16, 2009 as the catalyst for the restructuring other public sector. Jamaica’s unsustainable fiscal deficits and debt burden mandate the Government to find ways to climb out of its mountain of economic woes and chart a path to sustainable economic growth. Dealing with the size of the budget deficit, as well as modernising the public bureaucracy to become a more efficient, productive and cost-effective machinery is an imperative in this process.

The Prime Minister, in an address to Parliament setting out the rationale for public sector transformation at this time said: “Much of our public sector is governed by a structure and a culture that we inherited from the colonial era. It is a pyramid structure in which authority is concentrated at the top and responsibility not clearly defined, nor effectively located. It is antiquated, inefficient and largely irrelevant today. Efficient operations require a flatter structure, devolution of authority with responsibility and authority conjoined. It requires that every department be conscious of corporate goals and plans …It requires both a structural and a cultural change.”

The work of the unit is to ensure that this takes place.