Addressing Emerging Requirements and Challenges for Policy and Decision-Making in Digital Transformation in Developing Countries
UN DESA is organizing an Expert Group Meeting on Addressing Emerging Requirements and Challenges for Policy and Decision-Making in Digital Transformation in Developing Countries . The purpose of the meeting is to address the question of how to address the emerging requirements and challenges for policy and decision-making in digital transformation in developing countries, in particular in countries in special situations. Experts will discuss the issue of how to strengthen the digital capacity of developing countries to participate in, and benefit from, the growing opportunities of digitalization. It is hoped that the EGM will result in recommendations on priority actions to meet the capacity building requirements of developing countries and integrate such actions into the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals. Click here for more information.
14th Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
The 14th annual meeting the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) will take place from 25-29 November in Berlin, Germany under the theme of One World. One Net. One Vision. Convened by the Secretary-General and supported by DESA, IGF will bring diverse actors together to exchange information and share good policies and practices relating to the Internet governance and technologies on three major themes: I. Data Governance, II. Digital Inclusion, and III. Security, Safety Stability & Resilience, with associated issues on: addressing the multiple digital divides; how AI and other new technologies are affecting humankind; cyber security; fake news; gender equality; and shaping the digital future to ensure our human rights and sustainable development. While the IGF may not have decision-making mandates, it informs and inspires those who do. It facilitates common understandings and knowledge exchange of how to maximize Internet opportunities and address risks and challenges. António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General of DESA, will attend the meeting among many other high-profile representatives from governments, civil society, the private sector and other international organizations. Click here for more information.
Building Capacities of Training Schools and Institutes of Public Administration to implement the 2030 Agenda and attain the SDGs
UN DESA together with UNDP, UNRCCA, the Astana Civil Service Hub and the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan is organizing a workshop on Building Capacities of Training Schools and Institutes of Public Administration to implement the 2030 Agenda and attain the SDGs. The workshop aims to build the capacity of public servants to support the implementation of the SDGs through developing and updating the curricula of public administration schools and institutes to reflect the SDGs, and the key principles and objectives of the 2030 Agenda. It will take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from 27 to 29 November. Read more here.
Symposium on Leveraging Public Governance to Accelerate the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals – Transformation, Innovation & Inclusion
UN DESA in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) of the Government of the Republic of Korea is organizing a Symposium on Leveraging Public Governance to Accelerate the Achievement of the SDGs. The main objective of the Symposium is to strengthen the capacities of government officials to transform their own public institutions and accelerate achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It aims to reflect on how best to mobilize, organize and equip institutions and rally whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches to promote sustainable development by taking stock of progress made in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. It will provide an opportunity to discuss how to promote government innovation for social inclusion of vulnerable groups, with a focus on youth, women and persons with disabilities. The Symposium will actively engage with civil society organizations and the private sector to discuss innovative partnerships. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations will deliver a special address. The Symposium will take place in Incheon, Republic of Korea, from 20 to 22 November. Read more here.
Institutional Arrangements for the 2030 Agenda: Advancing Coordination and SDGs Integration in Laos
UN DESA together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Laos are collaborating on advancing coordination and integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to help Laos achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As part of this collaboration, a National Workshop was organized from 3 to 4 October 2019 to discuss how to accelerate the achievement the SDGs. During the Workshop all parts of the government, private sector and other national partners were encouraged to create policy, work plans and activities to advance sustainable development in Laos. The Workshop also developed the capacities of the national SDG Secretariat and ministerial SDG focal points to enhance co-ordination and increase policy coherence. Read more here.
Strengthening Capacities of Public Institutions for Transformational Leadership, Innovation and Inclusion to Realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 in East Africa
UN DESA’s Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government, the Government of Kenya and the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD are organizing a Symposium on Strengthening Capacities of Public Institutions for Transformational Leadership, Innovation and Inclusion to Realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 in East Africa. The main objective is to strengthen the capacities of government officials in East Africa to transform their own public institutions and accelerate the achievement of the 2030 and 2063 Agendas. The Symposium aims to reflect on how best to mobilize, organize and equip institutions to effectively promote sustainable development by taking stock of progress made in the implementation of both agendas. It will also provide an opportunity to discuss how to promote government innovation for social inclusion of vulnerable groups. The Symposium will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 16 to 18 October 2019. Please click here for more information.
The United Nations E-Government Survey 2020 Call for contributions
Preparations for the 2020 United Nations E-Government Survey (2020 UNEGOV) are now underway. This is a call for contributions from experts, practitioners, scientists, and researchers for concise and factual policy briefs highlighting issues, research findings or solutions relevant to the themes of the Survey, as set forth in the chapters outlined below. All contributions that will be included in the final publication of the 2020 UNEGOV will be acknowledged in the publication. All other contributions that meet the requirement of this call will be published online. The United Nations E-Government Survey is a biennial flagship publication of the Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government (DPIDG) of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) now on its 11th edition. Since the second edition was published in 2003, the exact methodology -- an online assessment of government national portals in computing the online service index (OSI) -- has been used consistently with adjustments in each edition to reveal prevailing trends and data availability. The OSI, along with the telecommunication infrastructure index (ITU as data source provider) and the human capital index (UNESCO/UIS as source provider), jointly establishes the E-Government Development Index (EGDI) as a composite measure, of which countries are ranked numerically based on standardized and normalised indices. Please submit your contributions by 28 October 2019. For more information, please click here.
UNPSA 2020 Call for Nominations
The 2020 United Nations Public Service Awards (UNPSA) is now open for nominations under the following categories: 1) delivering inclusive and equitable services for all; 2) promoting integrated mechanisms for sustainable development; 3) developing transparent and accountable public institutions; 4) promoting digital transformation in the public sector, and 5) promoting gender responsive public services to achieve the SDGs. The UNPSA is an annual Award that recognizes excellence in public service at the local, regional and national levels. It promotes and rewards innovation and excellence in public services in support of the realization of the SDGs and the principle of leaving no one behind. Public institutions at the national, sub-national, and local level from all UN member states are eligible to apply. In the case of public-private partnerships, the lead nominee must be a public-sector institution. The deadline for submitting nominations is 27 November 2019. To apply click here.
African regional workshop on effective governance for sustainable development: putting principles into practice
Co-organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and African Union/African Peer Review Mechanism (AU/APRM) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the event will be held in Pretoria, South Africa from 30 October to 1 November 2019. The joint UN-African Union workshop is specifically designed to support countries in assessment of gaps in the institutional application of each of the 11 principles of effective governance with a view to strengthening institutions for the implementation of the SDGs at all levels. The workshop is also expected to foster policy coherence by encouraging alignment of institution-building efforts related to the 2030 Agenda with the Agenda 2063 objectives of the African Union.
The objective of this joint UNDESA-AU/APRM workshop is to enhance the capacity of public servants in Africa to develop reform policies that strengthen institutions for the implementation of the SDGs at all levels. Please click here for more information.
Publication on Governance Framework for Digital Government
A publication on Governance Framework for Digital Government (in Spanish) is now available. It is an outcome of the Project for Competence on e-Government Development and Innovation in Panama funded by Panama with technical support from UN DESA/DPIDG. The National Authority for Government Innovation (AIG) in Panama supported the formulation of the Framework. It includes legislation, indicators, standards, Maturity Model and Digital Government Transformation and monitoring aspects to guide in a cohesive way the utilization of innovation to deliver public services. The publication is available here.
2019 UN Public Service Forum
The 2019 United Nations Public Service Forum, held on the occasion of the UN Public Service Day, took place in Baku, Azerbaijan from 24 to 26 June 2019. The Forum focused on critical challenges and strategies for achieving the SDGs, including inclusive governance and public administration, the changing role of the public service in achieving the SDGs, fostering and mainstreaming innovation, digital transformation, transformational leadership, as well as institutions and capacity building. Over 700 participants attended the Forum from about 100 countries. The Forum was opened by Mr. Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs and the First Vice President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The 11 winners of the 2019 UN Public Service Awards were recognized during an award ceremony. The 2019 World Public Sector Report was launched on the first day of the event. Several parallel capacity development workshops were held during the Forum along with plenary sessions and a Ministerial roundtable. Please click here for more information.
Meeting on Supreme Audit Institutions making a difference: Auditing the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals
DPIDG in collaboration with INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) organized a meeting that took stock of three years of experience in conducting performance audits of government preparedness for the implementation of the SDGs. Participants discussed how this experience may inform auditing the implementation of specific SDG goals and targets going forward. The meeting facilitated a dialogue between SAIs and stakeholders regarding the contribution of SAIs and external audits to the SDG review mechanism at different levels. The meeting was held from 22 to 23 July 2019 in New York. Please click here for more information..
Expert Group Meeting on the Elaboration of a Model to Audit the Implementation of the SDGs
DPIDG in collaboration with the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) held an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) to provide and discuss inputs on the proposed approach, methodology and tools for auditing SDG implementation. The meeting supported the finalization of the audit model developed by IDI. The model will be used to facilitate support for cooperative compliance and performance audits of the implementation of selected SDG goals and targets by supreme audit institutions. The model will also provide guidance to supreme audit institutions in their strategic considerations on auditing SDGs. The meeting was held from 24 to 26 July 2019 in New York. Please click here for more information.
Voluntary National Review Lab on Engaging all parts and levels of government
DPIDG organized a Voluntary National Review (VNR) Lab on the theme of Engaging all parts and levels of government during the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. It focused on the institutional aspects of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 as they relate to engagement of government in SDG implementation. The Lab emphasized the significance of national statistical offices, national audit offices and economic and social councils in promoting engagement across all phases of the policy cycle. It stressed the importance of connecting the daily work of government and fair resource allocation with parliamentary involvement and legitimacy. It concluded that the implementation of the 2030 Agenda is part of a dynamic learning process and that the main question of SDG engagement is how to motivate and sustain commitment for the next eleven years. The meeting was held on 15 July 2019 in New York.
Get to know the UNPSA Winners
With a little over a month to go before nominations open for the 2020 United Nations Public Service Awards (UNPSA), what kind of initiatives does it take to win the UNPSA? Get to know past winning UNPSA initiatives and how they relate to the SDGs when you visit the UNPS Innovation Hub. UNPSA promote and reward innovation and excellence in public services in support of the realization of the 2030 Agenda. For more information visit the UNPS Innovation Hub webpage.
ECOSOC takes action on the report of CEPA 18th session
The draft resolution and decision recommended by CEPA were adopted by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on 23 July 2019, as proposed and without amendment. This action affirms the provisional agenda for the 19th session and, among other guidance, encourages Governments at all levels to consider applying the principles of effective governance for sustainable development to all public institutions and in support of the implementation of all SDGs. Please click here for more information.
World Public Sector Report 2019 now available
The World Public Sector Report 2019 is available online. The report, entitled Sustainable Development Goal 16: Focus on Public Institutions, looks at national-level developments in relation to several concepts highlighted in the targets of Goal 16, which are viewed as institutional principles: access to information, transparency, accountability, anti-corruption, inclusiveness of decision-making processes, and non-discrimination. The report surveys global trends in these areas, documenting both the availability of information on those trends and the status of knowledge about the effectiveness of related policies and institutional arrangements in different national contexts. It also demonstrates how the institutional principles of SDG 16 have been informing the development of institutions in various areas, including gender equality and women’s empowerment (SDG 5). The report examines two critical instruments that can support effective public institutions and public administration for the SDGs, namely national budget processes and risk management. The World Public Sector Report 2019 aims to inform the first review of SDG 16 at the United Nations high-level political forum on sustainable development in July 2019, and to contribute to future efforts to monitor progress on SDG 16. By reviewing key challenges and opportunities for public institutions in the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda at the national level, the report also aims to inform efforts by all countries to create effective institutions to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals.
CEPA 18th session findings and recommendations move forward
The report of the 18th session of the Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA), held in April 2019, is now available in the six official UN languages. A key message of the session was that building equal and inclusive societies and leaving no one behind requires addressing the deep inequalities that exist in many countries. This in turn may require institutions at all levels to play a greater role in promoting and enforcing non-discriminatory laws and policies. The Committee also emphasized the critical role of institutions in achieving all of the SDGs and examined progress, identified prospects and recommended actions for advancing implementation of institutional aspects of SDG 16 at the national and subnational levels. These and other matters are reflected in a draft resolution and decision for review and adoption by the Economic and Social Council at its coordination and management meeting in July 2019, as well as in the Committee’s input to the 2019 High-Level Political Forum. More information is available here.