Innovations in Governance in the Middle East, North Africa, and Western Balkans: Making Governments Work Better in the Mediterranean region leads us through the journey of innovation by analysing the challenges and opportunities that governments in this region have faced to improve their public administration systems. All the innovations highlighted in this publication are significant – whether the innovation is large or small, in one government institution or across the board, a successful transformation or merely a small, first step on the way to reform – they indicate each country’s willingness to change, to be open to new ways of thinking and acting in reforming government.

The Committee of Experts on Public Administration of the UN looks at the ways in which public administration and institutional governance can be mobilized to most effectively implement the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). This report includes essays by some of the leading figures of the Committee on issues critical to shaping the contemporary state in order to implement the MDG. This issues range, for instance, from migration and primary education to African States and the search of new forms of public governance.

This publication emerged from the presentations, discussions, and conclusions of nine capacity development workshops, which examined the theme of participatory and transparent governance as part of the 6th Global Forum on Reinventing Government. In May 2005, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) organized these workshops in cooperation with the Institutional Partners Group (IPG), which comprises members of the UN system and external organizations. The Government of the Republic of Korea hosted the Forum with the support of UNDESA.

This toolkit highlights emerging innovative processes, methods and mechanisms that foster the engagement of civil society, the private sector and citizens in general in public policies. It aims to assist governments, civil society and other relevant stakeholders in having a common and shared understanding of civic engagement and the necessary knowledge and capacity to establish, design, formulate, implement, evaluate and monitor public and socio-economic policies and programmes with greater engagement of all stakeholders.

In its endeavour to support Member States in the area of ICT for development, the United Nations Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) organized an Expert Group Meeting on E-Participation and E-Government: Understanding the Present and Creating the Future from 27-28 July 2006 in Budapest, Hungary. The Meeting was organized as part of the ‘International E-participation and Local Democracy Symposium on Promoting Social Inclusion via E-participation, hosted by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, United Kingdom. The UNDESA Meeting on E-Participation and E-Government: Understanding the Present and Creating the Future provided an opportunity to review e-participation and e-government experiences, determine the strengths and weaknesses of the initiatives, and search for options and methodologies that may support a more inclusive e-government approach.