Dar es Salaam: The Tanzanian public sector must be innovative by implementing new processes, services and methods of delivery that could result in improvements in outcomes efficiency and quality, if  the country is to attain the Development Vision goals by 2025, the Head of Public Service Mr Philemon Luhanjo said in Dar es Salaam recently.

Speaking at a workshop on how to create a more empowered governance organized by Deloitte Tanzania, Mr Luhanjo said reforms alone are not enough to ensure an efficient  public sector if innovations are not taken on board.  During the workshop, which was also attended by permanent secretaries and head of public institutions, Mr Luhanjo also officially launched a book titled Public Sector Innovator's Play Book authored by William D. Eggers a highly regarded author and governance consultant who is also the executive director of Deloitte's Public Leadership Institute.

"In the year 2010, even with public sector reforms in place we still face a number of challenges that ca not be overcome by the public sector reforms per se. What sort of miracle then are we going to invoke to achieve these goals by the year 2025, only 15 years ahead? The answer is complex but it is a fact that at the core of the answer lies the importance of practicing the culture of innovation in the public sector," he said.

He noted that the government might not succeed to achieve all the Development Vision goals by 2025, but with innovation it can minimize the amount of resource requirements, shorten the time required to achieve them and elevate the quality of the outcome.

"Successful innovations in the public sector will turn the government into an efficient and dependable facilitator of the private sector," he said.

At the workshop Mr Eggers gave Tanzanian officials a five step strategic blueprint that would lead to a culture of innovation within the government.  "It requires a future-looking, external orientation; a willingness to draw on all sources of innovative ideas - employees, citizens and other public or private organizations," Mr Eggers added.

He also guided the officials on how they can improve the economic environment, create jobs, and more efficiently manage costs by harnessing the innovative potential within their people and institutions.

Speaking in the same event the Deloitte East Africa chief executive officer Mr Sammy Onyango said the his organization has been closely working the the Tanzanian government on various governance issues and other projects.  "From 2004 to 2006 we worked with the ministries of Education, finance and local government on the primary education development programme where we provided fiduciary assurance to the ministry that the funds provided to the schools had been well utilised," he said.

He added that during that same period Deloitte also worked with the government to help set up key multi-sector regulatory agencies including the Energy, Water & Utility Regulatory Authority (EWURA), Surface Marine and Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA) and the Fair Competition Commission (FCC).