## Notes from 12 January 2026 [[2026-01-11|← Previous note]] ┃ [[2026-01-13|Next note →]] A [Google alert about Senegal](https://www.rts.sn/actualite/detail/a-la-une/acceleration-de-laction-publique-le-chef-de-letat-fixe-les-priorites-du-gouvernement-pour-2026)'s next _Conférence des Administrateurs et Managers Publics_ caught my attention. The government announced the forum would focus on "quality of public service" — but what struck me was the format itself. This kind of high-level gathering, where the President convenes senior administrators to set priorities and signal direction, looks remarkably similar to France's [Convention managériale de l'État](https://www.transformation.gouv.fr/files/presse/DP_Convention-manageriale-etat-08-07-2021.pdf), launched in 2021. It appears to be a pattern: governance ideas travel more readily within the francophone world, where shared language and administrative traditions create natural channels for institutional borrowing. France creates its Convention; Senegal adapts it as CAMP; [Gabon](https://www.fonction-publique.gouv.ga/2-actualites/1212-cloture-du-forum-de-la-fonction-publique/) and [Côte d'Ivoire](https://jfp-award.ci/) organize their own versions. Meanwhile, Brazil has nothing comparable — no forum where political leadership systematically addresses the senior civil service as a collective to align on government priorities. ## Senegal: Conférence des Administrateurs et Managers Publics (CAMP) Senegal launched its first CAMP in January 2025, convened by the President and bringing together senior administrators from the central and decentralized state apparatus. The forum is designed as an annual gathering where political leadership sets priorities, promotes coherence across administration, and engages top public managers in strategic dialogue. CAMP functions as a space where the executive and senior civil service interact to align on governance priorities and administrative performance. ## France: Convention managériale de l'État France's Convention managériale de l'État was first held on 8 April 2021 and served as a strategic high-level forum to present and discuss the government's agenda on reforming the senior civil service (_encadrement supérieur de l'État_). The inaugural event brought together the President, Prime Minister, relevant ministers, and the country's top administrative officials in a videoconference format during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Convention helped frame institutional changes including the closing of ENA and creation of the Institut national du service public (INSP) — [which by the way has a new director announced this month](https://presse.economie.gouv.fr/jerome-filippini-nomme-directeur-de-linstitut-national-du-service-public/)— and the _[Délégation interministérielle à l'encadrement supérieur de l'État](https://www.diese.gouv.fr/)_ (DIESE), along with reforms to senior HR policy implemented that year. Unlike Senegal's CAMP, France's Convention is supposed to be organized every three years. It has happened on two occasions so far: 8 April 2021 (the inaugural Convention), and 12 March 2024 (a major "_[Rencontre des cadres dirigeants de l'État](https://www.modernisation.gouv.fr/presse/les-rencontres-des-cadres-dirigeants-de-letat)_"). These gatherings have served as key moments for setting priorities and communicating guidance to the senior civil service. Participants include France's approximately 25,000 senior civil servants who form the _encadrement supérieur_ — directors, prefects, agency heads, and other top administrative officials across ministries and deconcentrated services. Each edition addresses thematic priorities: the 2021 launch focused on announcing the senior civil service reform package, while subsequent iterations have tackled topics like management culture, digital transformation, and territorial coordination. The Convention functions as both a communication mechanism (allowing political leadership to address senior officials directly) and as a space for discussing the _referentiel de compétences managériales_, the shared management framework DIESE developed for senior civil servants. Starting in 2024, the model expanded to include regional versions (_[Conventions managériales régionales](https://www.diese.gouv.fr/actualites-evenements/lancement-de-la-premiere-convention-manageriale-de-letat-en-region)_). These are co-organized by DIESE and regional prefects, bringing together roughly 100 senior officials from different services within a given region. The first regional Convention took place in Orléans for the Centre-Val de Loire region. These regional forums emphasize cross-institutional cooperation, professional mobility at the territorial level, and working through concrete management challenges specific to local contexts. ## Brazil: no equivalent forum By contrast, Brazil lacks a focused, high-level forum in which the President or the Cabinet can address the federal senior civil service as a collective to signal priorities, align expectations and set a clear administrative direction for the government as a whole. There is no institutionalized moment where political leadership speaks directly to top public managers in a concentrated setting designed to convey what matters, what comes first, and what is expected from those responsible for implementation. Public administration debates in Brazil tend to take place in diffuse and fragmented arenas — within individual ministries or academic environments — rather than in a deliberately bounded space bringing together a relatively small group of senior officials with decision-making authority across government. Existing large-scale events often prioritize breadth, visibility and thematic diversity (like ENAP's innovation weeks), but lack the strategic focus required to align the senior administration around a limited set of government priorities. This absence points to a deeper institutional gap. Brazil has weak structures for managing the senior civil service as a system: no clear senior perimeter, limited cross-ministerial coordination of senior personnel policy, etc. As a result, the senior civil service rarely constitutes itself as a collective interlocutor of political leadership. There is no recurring forum where priorities are articulated top-down (not as commands, but as signals, orientations, and calls to responsibility) and where senior officials are explicitly convened around the task of translating political priorities into administrative action. More focused forums of this kind matter precisely because they differ from large, multi-thematic gatherings. Their value lies in concentration rather than inclusiveness: fewer participants, clearer messages and a direct line between political leadership and those who steer the machinery of government.