English

The United Nations hosted the Sixth Public Service Awards Ceremony and commemorated Public Service Day in New York on 23 June 2008 in Conference Room 2. The UN Public Service Awards (UNPSA) are handed out every year on 23 June, which has been designated by the United Nations General Assembly as Public Service Day (A/RES/57/277).

The 2008 World Public Sector Report, People Matter: Civic Engagement in Public Governance, highlights the importance of civic engagement in public governance and by profiling several case studies, demonstrates how such practices gain the capacity to strengthen governance, make it more transparent and accountable and most importantly, contribute to developmental outcomes that are more sustainable, equitable and just.

The World e-Parliament Report 2008 constitutes the first assessment from a global perspective of how information and communication technologies (ICT) are being employed by parliaments across the spectrum of activities for which they are responsible. It is based on the responses and comments provided by 105 assemblies from around the world to a survey on the use of ICT in parliament. It also draws on experiences exchanged during the World e-Parliament Conference 2007 and relevant policy available information.

At its sixth session, the Committee of Experts on Public Administration expressed appreciation to the Chair and the members of the working group on basic United Nations terminology in governance and public administration for its preliminary report and for proposing options for developing a glossary, its nature, structure and content, as well as an annex containing some of the terms to be included.

The present note by the Secretariat has been prepared on the basis of the inputs provided by the members of the Committee of Experts on Public Administration. The Committee adopted the theme of capacity-building for development, including post-conflict reconstruction of public administration and crisis/disaster management, as the main agenda item for its seventh session. This note has been prepared to establish an understanding of capacity development in theory and practice, to outline the present needs and challenges of countries in strengthening their governance and public administration capacities, and to offer a framework for the Committee’s discussion and recommendations for Member States, the Economic and Social Council and the United Nations Secretariat in pursuing capacity development objectives and activities in developing countries.

The present note highlights the major activities undertaken by the Secretariat in 2007 under the United Nations Programme in Public Administration and Finance for review by the Committee of Experts on Public Administration. It also presents the main activities to be implemented under the Programme during the current biennium 2008-2009. The Committee is requested to provide feedback to the Secretariat on these activities, which are intended to assist Member States in meeting their current governance and public administration challenges in a globalized world, and on emerging issues. The Programme has been assisting Member States in addressing their governance and administrative challenges since 1948 and is commemorating its sixtieth anniversary throughout 2008.

This is a presentation during the 30th Africa Association for Public Administration and Management (AAPAM) Annual Roundtable Conference Held in Accra, Ghana from 6th to 10th October 2008.

AAPAM is a Non-Profit Organization that (since 1971) works to strengthen the administrative and management capacities of African public administration systems. Public Administrators, Managers, civil savant, Scholars, Teachers and researchers need access to contextually relevant quality publications from Africa in order to develop solutions to address the continent’s challenges in administration, managerial, learn institutions and Civil Service.