Bestuursacademie
December 31, 2024
Every country with a public administration of any quality has one or more institutionalized pathways for joining its administrative apparatus. Of course, this involves recruitment and selection, but more importantly, it involves educational institutions. For instance, the French, the Germans, and even the Dutch have a conglomerate of education and training programs that shape civil servants, with the Nederlandse School voor Openbaar Bestuur Dutch School of Public Administration) (NSOB) as the pinnacle for top-level administrators.
On Curaçao, we have virtually nothing. In the past, before the 1980s, there was a "hoofdcommies" training program for lower-level positions, but it ceased to exist. Until around 2000, individuals with good university and HBO degrees (though hardly any public administration specialists) were recruited, but education has since played a diminishing role. However, it remains a market, with various parties attempting to sell training programs to the government.
In 2007, three years before Curaçao gained autonomous status, Professor 't Veld and others proposed a governance academy (bestuursacademie)comparable to the NSOB. However, virtually everyone, notably the head of Personnel Affairs and the deputy head of Personnel Affairs, Mrs. Jesus Leito, opposed the idea.
Years later, in 2024-2025, the accountants of the SOAB (Government Accountants Bureau) established something under the name Governance Academy. They pocket 7 million guilders annually for this, but their knowledge of public administration is as limited as my knowledge of accountancy.
The lack of serious investment in governance education in Cura-çao is a structural issue. It has resulted in an ill-prepared administrative apparatus that cannot tackle the complex challenges it faces. This calls for a reassessment of our priorities and a genuine commitment to sustainable capacity building.
Miguel Goede
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