EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM DESIGNED FOR COURTS AND TRIBUNAL ADMINISTRATORS, ORGANIZED BY THE STATE COURTS OF SINGAPORE IN COLLABORATION WITH THE LEE KUAN YEW SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY

On January 16 to 20, 2017, Darko Tadic, president of Higher Court in Novi Sad, Djordje Gojgic, president of Basic Court in Novi Pazar and Mirjana Pavlovic, higher advisor in High Judicial Council of Serbia, visited Singapore, as participants of Executive Leadership Programme for Court and Tribunal Administrators.

Executive Leadership Programme for Court and Tribunal Administrators was held in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy that provides short term training programs for more than 2,000 senior professionals annually from 90 countries worldwide.

The other participants were from Singapore, Australia, Tanzania, Marshall Islands, Myanmar and UAE. Representatives of the World Bank participated in the Executive Leadership Programme, also.

Executive Leadership Programme for Court and Tribunal Administrators was composed of lectures and case studies. It was an interactive training programme that encouraged discussions among the participants and speakers.
Executive Leadership Programme for Court and Tribunal Administrators included following topics:

Implications for Courts and Tribunals Administrators,
Leadership and Strategic Planning,
Latest Trends and Challenges in Human Resource Management,
Managing Court Resources,
Data Analytics-Implications for the Court System,
Application of Data Analytics, Measuring Court Performance, Process Innovation and Management in Justice Services,
Ethics and Values for Public Officials,
Change Management, and
Strategies for Effective Public Communications.

Participants had an opportunity to learn about the importance of leadership and strategic planning of the court, improvements in communication skills as well as advantages and disadvantages of the Singaporean recruitment. The members of the delegation were particularly interested to discus more about ethics and values for public officials and shared experience among them.

As part of the programme on 19 January 2017, all participants visited the Singapore Changi Prison. Its former director Mr. Chua Chin Kiat was one of the speakers at Executive Leadership Programme and he presented the prison reform to the participants. Prison reform in Singapore was very successful and brought the recidivism rate of prisoners down from 44% to 24%. In the process of this reform, the entire prison service was transformed. Public perception survey in 2000 revealed that the public had little knowledge of Singapore Changi Prison but it was followed by the series of advertisements and media campaign that were aimed at changing the public's perception of Singapore Changi Prison. Slogan "Captains of Lives, Rehab, Renew, Restart" means that the vision of the officers in the prison is to define their role as Captains in the lives of inmates.

The participants from Serbia had a great opportunity to learn about the judicial system in Singapore. They presented Serbian judicial system to their colleagues, also.

All aspects of the visit were extremely useful for the members of the delegation. Gained knowledge in the preparation and implementation of the strategic and action plans could be introduced in judicial system in Serbia and lead to better delivery of court services and achievement of high performance in Serbian courts.