2017 United Nations Public Service Forum and Awards
Highlighting the pivotal role of public services that are having on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 12 institutions from 11 countries were awarded by the United Nations for their public services innovation and excellence on UN Public Service Day. The 2017 Public Service Awards winners were announced during the UN Public Service Forum “The Future is Now – Accelerating Public Service Innovation for Agenda 2030” held from 22 to 23 June in The Hague, Netherlands. The 2017 Public Service Awards winners are from the following countries: 1st place winners: Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Botswana, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Mongolia, United Kingdom; 2nd place winners: Colombia, France, Thailand. The winners fact sheet can be found here. Click here for more information on the UNPS Forum.
UNDESA participates in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2017
UNDESA/DPADM organized two events at the annual World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum. The annual Forum is a global multi-stakeholder platform facilitating the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines for advancing sustainable development.
UNDESA/DPADM sessions addressed the role of private sector in mobilizing ICTs for SDGs; and the role of digital government in eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity. The sessions underscored the important role of ICT for realizing the SDGs and the role of government, private sector and other actors in realizing these promises. More details about these sessions including presentations and speakers can be found below.
Also during this year’s Forum, UNDESA/DPADM, together with ITU, briefed on the launch of a task group on ICT for SDGs as part of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development. The objective of the task group is to propose a thematic list of ICT indicators that could be used to measure ICT availability and use in sectors relevant to the SDGs that are not covered in the SDG indicators framework. For more, click
here.
UNDESA/DPADM also participated in the high-level policy session on the WSIS action lines and 2030 Agenda as WSIS action line facilitator. Click
here for more information.
Click
here for Action Lines C1 and C11 Facilitation Meeting.
Click
here for Action Line C7 eGov Facilitation Meeting.
24th UN/INTOSAI Symposium on Digitalization, Open Data and Data Mining
On 31 May-2 June 2017, DESA/DPADM and the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) jointly organised a symposium on the contribution of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) to SDG follow-up and review and digitalization, open data and data mining. The meeting showed that INTOSAI and its member SAIs are responding to the 2030 Agenda. INTOSAI has developed four approaches for SAIs’ to contribute to the SDGs (namely: assessing national readiness for implementing and reporting progress on the SDGs; undertaking performance audits of programs that contribute to the SDGs; assessing and supporting the implementation of Goal 16, and being models of transparency and accountability). The meeting discussed several initiatives under these approaches. It was also felt that aggregating information from SAIs’ audit work under each approach could help inform the SDG review in the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development (HLPF). INTOSAI and its members will continue working to develop implementation frameworks to produce high-quality SDG-related information. The meeting adopted a set of conclusions and recommendations.
Click here for more information.
Expert Group Meeting on the Preparatory Process for the United Nations E-Government Survey 2018
The expert group meeting on the “Preparatory Process for the United Nations E-Government Survey 2018” held from 10 to 11 May 2017 at the UNHQ covered a wide range of topics such as the comparative analysis of global and regional e-government assessments; e-government in the context of the SDGs; overview of current Survey methodology in relation to the principles of 2030 Agenda; emerging technology trends in the public sector, and innovations in support of sustainable development. The outcomes and recommendations included expanding e-government benchmarking to the local level especially to assess the evolution of smart cities, further evaluating mobile services in light of ubiquity of mobile technologies, piloting user satisfaction on e-government services in response to SDG indicator 16.6.2 (Proportion of the population satisfied with their last experience of public services) and others on presentation of the results and further extending existing e-government country profiles. Click here for more information.
CEPA 16 Discusses SDG Institutions, Leadership, Local Action
The Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) met from 24-28 April 2017. It considered the theme ‘Ensuring effective implementation of the SDGs: leadership, action and means.’ The Experts underscored that the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) depend greatly on the institutions and governance. The Committee started to develop principles of effective governance within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Read more.
Informal Advisory Working Group for the United Nations E-Government Survey 2018
The Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) is pleased to announce the formation of the Informal Advisory Working Group in support of the preparation of the United Nations E-Government Survey 2018. This informal working group will act as a think tank to provide advice on linking the UN-Government Survey with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Targets, the Actions Lines of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), and other international agreements. It is also expected to advise and review the existing methodology and indicators in the Survey as well as help identify new methodology approaches and indicators. Read more.