Edwin Barnes, Chief Director at the Office of the Head of the Civil Service has urged civil servants to see themselves as government agents helping to formulate and implement policies geared towards the development of the country. He said the Head of Civil Service had accepted the challenge to ensure a very effective and efficient civil service reminiscent of the pre-independence era. "This will serve as a challenge to contribute meaningfully to turn the country into a middle income status by 2015," he said at the opening ceremony of a 10-day workshop aimed at developing the capacity of the civil service. Mr Barnes said the training would equip civil servants to appreciate the importance of delivering good quality works. He said trainees should translate the skills acquired into their jobs and inspire colleagues through good leadership and professional ethics to be able to enhance productivity levels. He stressed that though the Office of the Civil Service had made efforts to transform the Service, it had not been successful. Mr Barnes called on all directorates to facilitate the process and said there was the need to scrap the cumbersome procedures that frustrated potential beneficiaries of the Service. The workshop, which was jointly organized by the Office of the Head of Civil Service (OHCS), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Civil Service College (CSC), Singapore, is brining together Directors and Deputy Directors from selected Ministries. Masato Kumagai, Deputy Resident Representative of JICA in Ghana, said the workshop would be conducted as one of the activities of a three-year technical cooperation project, which the Government of Japan and JICA had been promoting. He noted that the sharing of ideas, experiences and knowledge between Ghana and Asia would contribute to strengthening the self-help capacity of the government to attain the goals of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy and human development. Mr Kumagai expressed the hope that Ghana would become the centre of excellence of civil service training in the sub-region in a few years with Ghana sharing experiences and knowledge with neighbouring countries. Source: GNA