Evaluating Cross-Country Policy Learning in Public Administration: The Case of Qatar-Singapore Partnership in Regional Training Centre for Public Administration (RTCPA)

This article examines the interaction between Singapore and Qatar as an instance of policy transfer between a successful case of development and an ambitious case in transition through an exclusive focus on human capital development in public policy making and public administration. As Qatar’s modernization continues in pace and intensity, increasing exposure to the forces of globalization induces major changes in Qatar’s nation- and state-building processes. This process requires strong state capacity. Given the goal of enhancing state capacity, a central strategy has been balancing global and local forces. An integral element of this strategy has been learning from others’ experiences and engaging in policy transfer and learning. As a tool for this process of policy transfer, the article further evaluates the case of the SingaporeQatar Asia-Middle East Dialogue (AMED) Regional Training Centre for Public Administration (RTCPA) in Doha, Qatar, as a mechanism to foster this policy transfer. Jointly established by the governments of Singapore and Qatar in November 2006, The RTCPA has been providing training courses to officials from AMED member countries in the areas of public administration, trade promotion, urban planning, environmental management, information communication technology, sustainability development, public finance and quality management. By focusing on RTCPA as a case, the research targets to explore to what extent Singapore’s experience and approach towards governance and policymaking, management tools, and information and communication technologies (ICT) that have been effectively utilised in the public sector, have shaped Qatari efforts in its own path of development. Data have been gathered from key reports related to Qatar National Vision 2030, official documents of both Qatar and Singapore, as well as from official diplomatic communications among their governments. Additionally, experiences of previous RTCPA training participants from the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs of Qatar were also incorporated into the analysis. The study suggests that this evaluation would be a fruitful example in revealing the strengths and weaknesses of such initiatives and can offer a scheme for insights regarding effective tools of policy learning.