News: Global and International Organisations

Latest Update 18/05/2010

CAPAM Africa Regional Thematic Conference: Leading for Results: Realizing the Vision. May 24-26, 2011, Nairobi, Kenya – The role of a leader is first and foremost to achieve results. This is achieved through the articulation of a clear vision, development of strategies, coalescing of stakeholder support, and judicial deployment of resources.

Featured Report – Public Service Excellence: Embracing Innnovation and Change – This report features the proceedings of the 2011 Public Service Excellence: Embracing Innovation and Change conference held in Trinidad & Tobago. Featured articles include innovation cases and studies from Canada, Nigeria, Kenya and the United Kingdom.

Commonwealth Innovations Vol. 17, No. 1 -  This edition features a special focus on public service leadership. It includes the highlights from the Public Service Excellence: Embracing Innovation and Change conference, the results from a recent CAPAM survey on Leadership, and two featured articles from the Sunningdale Institute, National School of Government in the United Kingdom, and the Civil Service College, Singapore.

Bulgaria: several steps closer to its First ELoGE ceremony – The Bulgarian ELoGE Commission, accredited to award EloGE by the Council of Europe in December 2010, will host its first award ceremony at the end of April. ELoGE is the European Label on Governance Excellence at local level. It is part of the Council of Europe’s Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance at local level. The Commission – chaired by the Minister of Regional Development Mr Plevneliev – comprises representatives from the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria (NAMRB), the Ministry responsible for relations with the European Union, the Council of Ministers, the Regional Government, the Ombudsman, and other key national and local government stakeholders.

Launch of the NotaBENe programme, 17-18 March, St Petersburg – The NotaBENe programme in support of cross-border economic co-operation between local and regional authorities, the business community and higher education institutions in the Baltic Sea and Barents regions is being launched today and tomorrow 18 March 2011 in St-Petersburg (Russian Federation).The programme is supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers and will be implemented in close co-operation with the Council of Europe (the DDI).

Multilevel governance and crossborder co-operation: key challenges for European states – European citizens are usually confronted with the level of government closest to them in terms of services provided, policies implemented or taxation. But other tiers of government exist which have an impact on their life as well: infrastructure, higher education, health, economic development, to mention just a few, are functions where regions, state and European institutions develop policies, take decisions and influence citizens’ lives and enterprises’ strategies. And they know no frontiers: territorial cohesion requires harmonisation of approaches and policies across the frontiers.

European Public Sector Awards 2011 – Applicants from several European institutions and from over 32 European countries have registered, coming from local, regional and national levels of government. The applications span many administrative sectors ranging from employment, gender equality, education and public administration modernisation, to human rights, research and innovation, information society, transport and infrastructure, and public health and social welfare.

This year, the three thematic areas cover: Theme 1: Smart Public Service Delivery in a Cold Economic Climate ; Theme 2: Opening Up the Public Sector through Collaborative Governance ; Theme 3: Going Green: Concrete Solutions from the Public Sector

The award winners and nominees for each theme will be presented during a celebratory award ceremony, which will take place on 15-17 November 2011 in Maastricht (NL). The EPSA 2011 is an award for outstanding administrative performances across all levels of the public sector.

EU membership candidates: keep on reforming to stay on track -
Parliament gives a positive overall assessment of last year’s efforts by Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to qualify for EU membership, but also underlines that Turkey has made only limited progress towards meeting the “Copenhagen” EU eligibility criteria, in resolutions approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee on Wed

RECONSTRUIRE L’AFRIQUE Vers une nouvelle gouvernance fondée sur les dynamiques locales, Ousmane SY, Les Editions Charles Léopold Mayer et les Editions Jamana Date de parution : novembre 2009

Ousmane Sy est un des hommes qui modèlent aujourd’hui la destinée de l’Afrique. Un de ceux qui rêvent d’une Afrique réconciliée avec elle-même, capable de penser son avenir de façon autonome dans un monde interdépendant. Il retrace ici son parcours, celui d’un passeur entre l’action et la réflexion, entre l’Afrique et le monde, entre le passé et l’avenir.

Chroniques de la Gouvernance 2009/2010 (in French only) À beaucoup d’égards, les deux années qui viennent de s’écouler resteront celles d’une débâcle financière, économique et sociale unique. Un tel échec est, dans une large mesure, celui des systèmes de gouvernance nationaux et internationaux, privés comme publics.

The chapters in this book representing Russia, Poland, Estonia, Romania, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Slovenia provide good examples of the development of political executives and their support services in the Central and Eastern European countries. The studies illustrate the interplay of politico-administrative roles over time and provide an insight into the impact of structural differences and diverse administrative traditions. There are also interesting comparative examples from Western Europe, namely Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland and Sweden, that illuminate both the similarities and differences of the efforts of executives to enhance their own capacity as a result of changing environments. The majority of the studies presented in this book examine attempts on the part of chief executives to enhance their ability to contribute effectively to the governance of their societies. These efforts involve not only strengthening the capacity for political powers and political enforcement through support structures and new coordination procedures, but also the policy analytic capacity of these offices. These studies also demonstrate the barriers that chief executives, even those in seemingly powerful positions, encounter when attempting to govern from the centre. They further point to the thin line that can exist between the professionalization of policy in these offices, and its politicization. These studies therefore are useful both to students of governing, and practitioners of that art, as they struggle to find ways of making governments both be effective and respond democratically to the demands of the public.

OECD Urban Roundtable for Mayors and Ministers: Cities and Green Growth
This meeting will seek to identify a common policy agenda for cities’ contribution to a global green growth agenda. Participants will address how existing models can be fine-tuned to create synergy, rather than conflict, between national and localised urban growth, sustainable development, and climate change action plans.

Economics : OECD Forum and Ministerial meeting to focus on innovation, growth
New OECD forecasts for economic growth and strategies to boost innovation will be at the heart of discussions at the OECD’s annual Forum and Ministerial meeting in Paris on 26-28 May 2010. The OECD’s latest Economic Outlook will be released by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría with Chief Economist Pier Carlo Padoan.

ESCWA holds a meeting to discuss challenges to the development and adoption of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) applications in the region, with a special focus on e-services in the public sector. The meeting will recommend steps to overcome these challenges, focusing on accelerating the deployment of these applications and providing effective e-services that comply with citizens’ needs.
The Road to Good Governance is a Two-way Street
Relationships with governments are often a top-down affair, a one-way street with citizens on the receiving end of public services often designed with neither their input nor their needs in mind. So it is a pleasant surprise when citizens take centre stage and governments go out of their way to make their e-government programmes more“citizen-tailored”.
The heads of e-government entities in the six GCC countries gathered at a conference in Muscat last month to discuss trends, obstacles, experiences and best practices in e-government with experts and scholars from international organisations including the UN and the World Economic Forum.

India: Delhi Gears Up for Digitised Governance
With the 3-Dimensional Geographic Information System (GIS) Mapping of the city now complete, the city is ready for a digital governance ride. Governance in Delhi will be a hi-tech affair from April 2010 as the state government has completed the 3-Dimensional Geographic Information System Mapping of the city.

United Kingdom 4th in UN’s eGovernment development report
The United Nations has released the initial results of a survey, revealing the UK has jumped several places up the table of eGovernment development.

Korea Leads Global IT and e-Government Development
The Lee Myung-bak Administration of the Republic of Korea has succeeded in ranking first in both the e-Government Development Index and e-Participation Index of the UN Global E-Government Survey 2010.