The one-day seminar co-organised by the Egyptian Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform, the OECD MENA Governance Programme and SIGMA was initiated to provide representatives of the various key Egyptian centre of government institutions with an overview on whole-of-government co-ordination, strategic planning, evidence-based policy development and monitoring by introducing key concepts and international good examples from OECD member countries.

1. The Centre of Government:
Driving Egypt Vision 2030
10 July 2017, Cairo

2. Context
Egypt is in the process of developing and implementing wide-ranging
reforms, including the reform of the public administration, as
described in the Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt Vision 2030.
In order to achieve the envisaged goals and reform objectives, strong
co-ordination across administrative silos, notably between the Center
of Government (CoG)and the Ministry of Finance and with line
ministries led by the centre, to steer integrated strategic policy-
setting, planning implementation, and monitoring and evaluation, is
essential.
The discussion offers a platform to key decision-makers in the
Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform and other
state institutions critical for central co-ordination.
Objective
The workshop aims to present an overview of conceptual approaches and
practical experience on how the CoG is organised and managed in OECD
countries and what tools and approaches can help to fulfil its
critical functions. Among others, the presentations will highlight
good practices from Central and Eastern European countries which have
undertaken structural reforms in a transition context. It will
contribute to developing a common understanding of the CoG and its
roles and responsibilities, in order to better define the potential
needs of the Egyptian authorities in their reform process. The
discussion aims to support dialogue on the broader Egyptian
administrative reform objectives and directions along the following
questions:
1. What functions does the CoG have?
2. What are the different models for organising the CoG?
3. What practical arrangements and co-ordination mechanisms
exists between and within state institutions to set, implement
and evaluate strategic policy?
4. What role does the CoG play in co-ordinating national
strategic policy setting, implementation and performance
monitoring across national government and with regional and
local governments?
5. Why is central co-ordination a pre-requisite of focused
reform?
6. What role does the CoG typically play in leading/co-ordinating
strategy performance evaluation, including integrating
performance information to improve whole-of-government policy-
setting and implementation over time?
7. How does the CoG engage with external stakeholders?

3. More information
 For more information on the workshop, please contact Ms. Miriam
ALLAM, Head of MENA-OECD Governance Programme
(Miriam.Allam@oecd.org) and Mr. Péter VÁGI, Senior Adviser,
Policy Making, Strategy and Reform, OECD/SIGMA
(Peter.Vagi@oecd.org)
 Find more information on OECD’s work here:
http://www.oecd.org/gov/cog.htm, http://www.oecd. and
www.sigmaweb.org.

4. AGENDA
09:00-09:15
Opening session
 H.E. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning,
Monitoring and Administrative Reform
 OECD
09:15-10:15
Session 1: Whole-of-government coordination
 Mr. Adam Ostry, Senior Project Manager,
Governance Reviews and Partnerships
Division, OECD
10:15-11:00
Session 2: Strategic Planning
 Mr. Adam Ostry, Senior Project Manager,
Governance Reviews and Partnerships
Division, OECD
11:00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-12:30
Session 3: Evidence-based policy making and monitoring and
evaluation frameworks
 Mr. Péter Vági, Senior Adviser, Policy
Making, Strategy and Reform, OECD/SIGMA
12:30-13:30 Lunch break
13:30-14:30
Session 4: Strategic enablers: HRM, budget, stakeholderengagement
 Mr. Péter Vági, Senior Adviser, Policy
Making, Strategy and Reform, OECD/SIGMA
14:30-15:00
Wrap-up session
 Dr Ghada Moussa, Director, Governance,
Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and
Administrative Reform

5.  Ms. Miriam Allam, Head of the MENA-OECD
Governance Programme

6. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Policy and legislation are central outputs of the political leadership and administration. The
constitutional frameworks governing each country’s political leadership vary, but in all cases it is
critical that policy decisions are made in a co-ordinated manner, ensuring that outputs are
consistent, predictable, and in line with the strategic objectives and resources of the state. For
this reason, the political leadership needs administrative institutions that support the policy-
development and decision-making systems.
Policy development and co-ordination needs to be underpinned by arrangements and capacities
for policy planning, development, co-ordination, implementation and monitoring. For decision
makers to achieve these objectives, supporting institutions need to carry out policy-planning and
co-ordination functions. As a whole, the policy-making system needs to be well organised and to
function in a competent manner.
The central institutional set-up should include the centre of government (CoG) and other bodies
with horizontal responsibilities, such as the ministry of finance (MoF) and the institution
responsible for policy planning. The institutional set-up within and between these institutions
should faciliate co-operation and complementarity to ensure policy coherence and an efficient
management of the policy system, including implementing and enforcing the provisions of the
legal framework that governs the policy-making system.
ABOUT SIGMA
SIGMA (Support for Improvement in Governance and Management) is a joint initiative of
the OECD and the European Union, principally financed by the European Union. Its key
objective is to strengthen the foundations for improved public governance, and hence support
socio-economic development through building the capacities of the public sector, enhancing
horizontal governance and improving the design and implementation of public administration
reforms, including proper prioritisation, sequencing and budgeting. We have been working with
countries on strengthening their public governance systems and public administration capacities
for almost 25 years.

7. CONTACT
Miriam ALLAM, Head of the MENA-OECD Governance Programme | Miriam.Allam@oecd.org
Mr. Péter VÁGI, Senior Adviser, Policy Making, Strategy and Reform, OECD/SIGMA |
Peter.Vagi@oecd.org
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