Global Forum on Reinventing Government

The United Nations took an active interest in Creative Public Governance by hosting for the first time in partnership with the Austrian Government, the 7th Global Forum on Reinventing Government from 26 to 29 June 2007 at UN Headquarters in Vienna.

The theme of this conference is "Building Trust in Government." The conference also aimed to promote better international and regional cooperation, while giving government officials an opportunity to exchange good practices and experiences. Participating in the Forum were Heads of State, prime ministers, ministers, parliamentarians, government officials, experts, CEOs, representatives of international organizations and civil society organizations.

I’ll highlight the innovations achieved by the 2007 United Nations Public Service Awards Winners in my subsequent blogs. They are great examples for governments at all levels to study and perhaps use as a template for introducing innovations into the public service.

It is very important for governments who are keen to improve their administration to take note of the conclusions reached at the conference.

Below is a shortened version of the Vienna Declaration. It consist of conclusions and key areas of consensus that emerged from the 7th Global Forum discussions.

Vienna Declaration

Recommendations: Ways To Build Trust In Government

1. Secure Legitimacy of Government – To strengthen the confidence of citizens in their governments, the state must be and be seen to be legitimate, fair and institutionally strong.
2. Prioritize Service Delivery and Access – Public sector performance creates trust in government by delivering “public value” via reliable public services that not only address market failures, but produce value by creating equity, equality and social capital.
3. Increase Transparency and Accountability to Combat Corruption – We recognize that corruption is one of the greatest challenges facing the world. Corruption involving officials from the private and public sectors is a grave and corrosive abuse of power.
4. Improve Access to ICTs – E-government has tremendous potential to improve transparency,foster greater citizen engagement and participation in the policy process, and improve the quality of policy decisions and their implementation.
5. Support Effective Civil Society Engagement - Civil society must be empowered to participate as a full partner in governance in order for trust to thrive in government institutions.
6. Engage the Constructive Interest of a Free Media – Because a vital part of maintaining trust depends on public perceptions, true or false, the role of the media in creating these perceptions has greatly increased with the information revolution.
7. Bring Government Closer to People – Local governance is one of the most effective ways of bridging the gaps between citizens, political representatives, and public administrators.
8. Enable Public-Private Partnerships – Effective public-private partnerships can improve the design and implementation of development programmes by capitalizing on the respective strengths and resources of each partner.
9. Promote Innovations in Public Sector Reform –The ability of governments to earn the trust of their populations depends on the degree to which they are able to strengthen state capacities. That means, for example, strengthening the accountability for results by guaranteeing adequate competencies for both raising and allocating revenues. To facilitate this process, we recommend that governments employ incentive-based strategies which reward public sector employees who successfully introduce innovations that improve public service. Innovation should focus on enhancing public value.
10. Rebuild Trust in Crisis and Post-Conflict Countries – The interplay of social and political trust is even more crucial for crisis and post-conflict countries.

Follow-Up Measures

1. We urge international development partners, including bilateral donors and the United Nations,
to increase support to developing countries to strengthen their capacity in public administration and governance.

2. We also urge concrete follow-up to the 7th Global Forum. In particular, we recommend, inter
alia, that the following measures be taken:

a. support a global network of innovators to share ideas and experiences, and act as an observatory;
b. support regional and global level governance centers to document and share good ideas;
c. support regional forums to formulate regional cooperation strategies to improve public administration and governance;
d. promote North-South and South-South cooperation and dialogue;
e. encourage country anchored pilot projects to test alternative methodologies and approaches to promote and strengthen effective and democratic governance;
f. focus at least one category of the UN Public Service Award on projects which
contribute to strengthening citizen’s trust in government; and
g. commission concept papers to develop a framework of principles to underpin trust in government.

3. In addition and in parallel to the global network of innovators, we also urge organization of ministerial round tables to meet periodically to review their experiences in dealing with selected issues of trust, and make recommendations. We also recommend similar meetings at regional and national levels for local administrators. Finally, round tables of parliamentarians are also recommended to share innovative practices and institutional designs.


Talk on Creative Governance

Please email me at DrYKK@mindbloom.net if you want to invite me to present an illuminating one hour Talk on Creative Governance and thereafter to facilitate a session to help solve a prevailing public and social problem in the spirit of Creative Governance.

I would appreciate if you could share Creative Governance stories with me so that they could be featured here. Please forward your response and contributions to DrYKK@mindbloom.net