Welcome to the United Nations
The Committee of Experts on Public Administration held its tenth session at the United Nations in New York from 4 to 8 April 2011. Its theme was “Public governance for results to improve the quality of human life for all, by supporting the implementation of the internationally agreed development goals including the Millennium Development Goals”.
Report
Arabic | Chinese | English | French | Russian | Spanish
Subtopics | Major recommendations/conclusions |
Public governance for results in general | The Committee urges the Secretariat and the Economic and Social Council that they assist Governments in the how, such as through better practice guides, mechanisms for constant monitoring and review, and building organizations with a learning culture. The Secretariat and the Economic and Social Council should ensure that the United Nations has the capacity to provide independent information, such as on the Millennium Development Goals, without which independent performance evaluation is not possible. Also, concerned with the possibility of promoting governance frameworks that may be too costly for, or ill-suited to, a country’s conditions, yet may become adopted as a result of citizen and international pressure, the Committee recommends that the Secretariat add sensitivity to national and regional conditions in its advocacy and assistance work. The Committee request the Secretariat to explore ways that the United Nations can support capacity-building for democracy and a democratic culture in developing countries. |
Post-conflict and post-disaster countries | The character of current international assistance to post-conflict countries requires radical reappraisal to simplify, respect the time necessary for a sustainable peace by multi-year mandates and funds, put local governments in the driver’s seat in choosing priorities in relation to local conditions and move from prescription to facilitation. The Committee urges the Secretariat to develop its capacities to complement ongoing assistance in peace and security, through the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the United nations Development Programme, with the crucial assistance on governance capacities for development, specifically, advice on options and on identifying the civil service positions vital to understanding economic policymaking, training skills for negotiating with donors and trade groups, and assisting public management to support the productive sector, in partnership with the private sector. Programmes of public sector development in post-conflict countries must move from technical assistance provided by expatriate advisers, which creates a parallel civil service without transferring knowledge, to the creation of a locally rooted and professional public administration. International actors intervening in post-conflict countries should rethink concepts of security to recognize its necessary link with broad public participation, the strategic importance of local government, and the imperative of building trust in technical programmes for capacity-building and skills development. The Committee recommends that the Secretariat create an active repository of knowledge of what does succeed, how, and why in post-conflict transitions, including citizen participation in rebuilding the State, an effective civil service, and innovations in public administration, possibly through case studies of the United Nations Public Service Awards. The environmental crisis is not only an issue of climate change but is also a profound threat to development and human security. The Committee urges the Department of Economic and Social Affairs to contribute to an international mechanism for financing adjustments and provide technical support to address agricultural losses and food insecurity. It urges the Division for Public Administration and Development Management to assist countries in the radical restructuring of public administration and development management that is required to meet the challenges of the cumulative impacts of successive disasters. |
Social protection of vulnerable populations | Protecting vulnerable groups should be a priority for any Government, providing social protection within available resources. Criteria for social protection strategies should include: (a) affordability; (b) national values on an ethic of social solidarity; (c) vertical and horizontal equity; (d) support from non-State actors; (e) gender; (f) sustainability over time; (g) the possibility of phasing out when appropriate so as to avoid individual dependency as much as fiscal traps; and (h) administrative efficiency. Special attention should be paid to vulnerable groups currently excluded from mainstream social protection programmes, such as labour migrants, displaced persons, certain minorities such as indigenous peoples, and those denied citizenship where they live. In spite of the United Nations commitment to social protection through internationally agreed goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, and the work of programmes and agencies such as UNDP, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the World Health Organization, poverty and inequality continue to be pervasive on a global scale. As 2015 approaches, the United Nations should work with Member States to forge a global agenda for social protection, linked more closely with national development agendas beyond the targeted year of 2015. An important contribution to such a global agenda and continuous United Nations involvement is building the capacity of public administrations to implement those goals at the international, national, and local levels. Another contribution would be a global system of knowledge management on the many components of social protection, beginning with an international reference toolkit based on case studies, comparisons, and programme evaluations and an international network on e-services for the disabled and elderly, anchored in the United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN). To reduce corruption in social protection programmes and increase accountability, the Committee recommends that public administrations keep public records of the beneficiaries of social programmes. |
Annual Ministerial Review Theme
| Major recommendations/Conclusions |
Implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to education | Member States need to place priority on training the highest quality senior managers and top civil servants and with pay commensurate with the private sector. Member States need to improve the compensation system for government employees and establish an effective performance appraisal system along with proper job analysis and job description. Member States need to recognize the socially embedded nature of public administrations, and thus the importance of education from an early age on citizenship and a culture of responsibility that values socially relevant results. International organizations and experts should disseminate benchmarking criteria for training institutions, regionally and context-specific, such as a joint effort by the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and regional networks. Member States need to construct systems of performance assessment for public administration that engage citizens, such as through community boards and consultation with civil society organizations. |