Innovation in Governance and Public Administration

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Innovation in Governance and Public
Administration

• Lessons Learned from the
• United Nations Public Service Awards
• Adriana Alberti
• Coordinator, United Nations Public Service Awards
• Governance and Public Administration Officer

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What is Innovation in governance?

• Many definitions. Innovation can refer to new
  products, new policies and programs, new
  approaches, and new processes.
• It is a creative idea which is implemented to
  solve a pressing problem of public concern. It is
  the act of conceiving and implementing a new way
  of achieving a result and/or performing work. It
  can involve
• The incorporation of new elements
• A new combination of existing elements or
• A significant change or departure from the
  traditional way of doing things
• Innovation is mankinds effort to endlessly
  pursue change for a better world

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Why should governments innovate?

• Complex domestic and international challenges and
  opportunities require that the public sector
  continually adapts to changing circumstances.
• Governments are faced with 3 main domestic
  challenges
• More far-reaching and higher quality services
  with less resources and capacities
• More accountable, responsive and effective
• Respond to the demand from citizens for greater
  participation.
• Although government is still central to society,
  it is now widely recognized that governance is
  not the sole prerogative of governments

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The Innovation Imperative

• PA must innovate its organizational structure,
  its practices, its capacities, and how it
  mobilizes, deploys and utilizes resources (human,
  material, information, technological and
  financial) for service delivery
• In order to do so, PA needs to be transformed
  into a learning organization that is able to
  explore and find new and better ways of achieving
  its mission.
• Since good governance is not a one-time exercise,
  but an open-ended process, innovation in
  governance is a must for all countries and should
  become a culture embraced by public sector
  managers at all levels.

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What are the positive effects of innovation in
governance?

• First, it can help maximize the utilization of
  resources and capacities to create public value.
• Second, by improving public services, and
  therefore image of the public sector, it can help
  governments improve their legitimacy and perform
  even better (increase trust in government ).
• Third, innovation in governance can boost the
  pride of civil servants working in the public
  sector, as well as encourage a culture of
  excellence and continuous improvement.
  Innovations can have an inspirational capacity
  which builds a sense of the possible among public
  officials.
• Fourth, although innovations are limited
  governance interventions or micro-level
  initiatives, they can produce a domino effect.

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What are the most common strategies in
innovation in public administration?

• Integrating services
• Decentralizing service delivery
• Utilizing partnerships
• Taking advantage of ICT
• Engaging citizens

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What Can Governments Do to Create an Enabling
Environment?

• A number of factors are critical to building an
  enabling environment for innovation, including
• Strong and Effective Leadership
• The Human Factor as Lever for Change
• Organizational culture and policies supportive
  of innovation
• Accurate assessment of the problem as well as
  strategic planning, monitoring, follow-up and
  evaluation

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What Can Governments Do to Create an Enabling
Environment?

• 5. Shared Vision and Measurable Outcomes
• 6. Building horizontal networks across government
• 7. Citizens Engagement and Participation
• 8. Open Communication among Committed
  Stakeholders
• 9. Resources Availability (human, technical,
  etc.) and Sustainability

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The Critical Role of Sharing and Adapting
Knowledge on Innovations in Governance

• It provides governments with a set of concrete
  and workable options on how to achieve
  internationally agreed goals.
• It affords the opportunity to shift attention
  from what governments should do to respond to
  increasingly complex challenges to how they can
  do it.
• It can save time, inspire new reforms, and in
  some cases help countries to leapfrog stages of
  development.

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The Critical Role of Sharing and Adapting
Knowledge on Innovations in Governance (ctd.)

• It is relevant not so much in the sense that
  countries can transfer an existing model from
  another country into their own administrative
  system, but rather that they can adapt elements
  of successful practices in other contexts to
  their internal circumstances.
• Most importantly, this process can serve as an
  incentive to jump start other similar
  initiatives.

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The Logic of Sharing
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United NationsPublic Service Awards
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About the UNPSA

• The United Nations Public Service Award is the
  most prestigious international recognition of
  excellence in public service.
• It rewards the creative achievements and
  contributions of public service institutions that
  lead to a more effective and responsive public
  administration in countries worldwide.
• Through an annual competition, the UN Public
  Service Awards promotes the role, professionalism
  and visibility of public service. 

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Call for Nominations

• The United Nations Division for Public
  Administration and Development strongly
  encourages the nomination of public service
  institutions that conduct work in any of the
  following categories
• Category 1 Improving transparency,
  accountability, and
  responsiveness in the Public Service
• Category 2 Improving the delivery of Public
  Services
• Category 3 Fostering citizen engagement in
  public administration
  through innovative mechanisms
• Category 4 Advancing knowledge management in
  government
• Deadline for the 2010 United Nations Public
  Service Awards is 31 December 2009.
• To apply, go to http//www.unpan.org/unpsa

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Global Knowledge Base on Public Administration

• Creating a one-stop shop of information and
  knowledge on key principles and practices of
  public administration from various regions of the
  world
• Establishment of regional networks of focal
  points to share knowledge in the above areas
  starting from existing charters/principles of
  excellence to promote good performance of civil
  servants. (LA, Africa, Asia, Western Asia, etc.)
  We would like to build this together by working
  with focal points in each country of the gulf
  region.

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THANK YOU SHUKRAN! WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR
NOMINATIONS