Creative Public Governance

Creative Governance through a Cheer-Leader Judge

2009-02-08T19:13:00.002+11:00

A report in an Australian daily caught my eye as an example of Creative Governance at work in the courts.

The decade old Drug Court in the state of New South Wales has proven a great success thanks to the creativity and compassion of judge Roger Dive. He instituted a system whereby he leads a team of people responsible for the rehabilitation of the drug offender to an enthusiastic applause.

Judge Roger Dive sees about 40 drug offenders each day in his. These appearances, called report backs, are for Judge Dive to consider whether the offender is making progress in a court-determined program to cut drug use, build a normal life and avoid reoffending.

If the offender - pointedly called a participant - has moved forward, Judge Dive leads the applause, joined by his team of lawyers, health workers, corrections officers and counsellors, as well as by the other participants waiting in the back of the court.

The improvement may be going three days without using drugs; it may be finding a job or a training course; it may be graduating from the Drug Court after 12 months. When applauded, the participant leaves the court beaming, often shaking hands with other participants on the way out.

According to a four-year study by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research published last year, graduates from the Drug Court are 58 per cent less likely to commit another drug offence than those who did not enter the program. This result, according to the bureau's director is unmatched in Australia.

All participants are convicted non-violent drug users who are eligible for Drug Court as an alternative to full-time imprisonment. Treating offenders outside jail is the court's underlying principle.

The success shows that there are always better alternatives than the traditional jail and punishment methods. It proves that applause may well work much better than incarceration and other forms of punishment because the desire to reform comes from the offender himself.

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

Creative Governance in Afghanistan Using Viagra

2009-01-04T14:21:00.003+11:00

The use of Viagra may be the most potent secret in the winning of the war in Afghanistan.

According to the Washington Post, CIA agents are offering the potency drug Viagra and other gifts to win over Afghan warlords in the US-led war against Taliban insurgents.

Viagra is the best gift ever to the ageing Afghan chieftains often have up to four wives and are open to the Viagra pill as a way to "put them back in an authoritative position”.

Winning a war may not be about advanced weaponry or high-tech equipped soldiers but the ability to use put into action creative and non-conventional ideas based on local knowledge.

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

Creative Governance through Winning a War without Guns

2008-07-06T21:11:00.001+10:00

I came across an amazing article in XL magazine (Extraordinary Lives) Volume Issue 5 008 , released in June 2008. It tells a of story of how, against the odds, a small New Zealand-led coalition army created a blueprint for lasting peace n Bougainville Island, with soldiers being armed with guitars rather than weapons.

These unarmed soldiers brought about permanent peace to a decade long war that took the lives of more than 20,ooo people in the tiny Bougainville Island . It provides an excellent example of how of how Creative Governance can be applied in a war situation.

In 1997 the New Zealander Defence Force (NZDF) rounded up a coalition of four armies. The mission was led by a New Zealander, Brigadier Roger Mortlock . He believed the solution could only be found in the ‘soft power’ unarmed tactics. The media thought he was crazy, and the newspapers lampooned him.

The Coalition Force entered a hostile environment and the rebel soldiers were ready to shoot them with their guns as the plane landed. With h mounting tension, the hostile rebels then checked inside the plane ’s hold, to find it was full of guitars, volleyballs, medical equipment and vehicles
.
The decrepit NZDF vehicles would not start. So, in an inconceivable display of trust and unity,rebel soldiers, who were ready to kill five minutes earlier, dropped their weapons and helped the coalition forces push-start the trucks. The rebels realised that these foreign soldiers were clearly unarmed,and must be coming in peace. Word of his immediately started t o spread throughout the island. The hope for peace permeated Bougainville, as locals saw the peacekeepers bringing their message of peace and love to Bougainville. This extraordinary peace initiative was the world ‘first ’ in using only soft power engagements.

Against all odds the mission was huge success. t is s a fascinating example e of how w an army could d motivate bitter enemies to relinquish their r weapons, and unite them to o work k together to forge lasting peace hat still prevails today.

This extraordinary story has been made into a movie and will hit the screens in the later part of this year. So watch out!

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

Creative Governance and the FiSH philosophy

2008-04-22T22:09:00.002+10:00

The FiSH! philosophy will make a dramatic positive impact when introduced into public governance. I have read two books before on this subject. It is the third and latest book FiSH Omnibus that made me a convert.

I followed up with a Google search on the “ FiSH philosophy governance”. It came out with 64.500 results. Topping the list was a report in the Australian Defence Magazine. In fact several defence related agencies in Australia, including the Navy took up this approach (ref:.http://minister.defence.gov.au/defencemagazine/editions/200607/sections/rtp.htm)

A quick survey of the Google results show that the FiSH philosophy has spread to wide-ranging organizations, from government to corporations to schools, NGOs , etc.
Now, what is the FiSH philosophy about?
There are four basic principles to the FiSH philosophy:
 choose your attitude
 play
 make their day
 be present

I recommend that you go to www.fishphilosophy.com to find out more about this amazing FiSH culture.

I reproduce below the description of the FiSH philosophy from the official website:

What is FISH!®?

FISH! is a skill that provides the process, tools and language to generate the skills necessary to design a workplace full of inspiration, creativity and innovation. FISH! creates a common language. A language that will help improve your culture by using four simple practices – Be There, Play, Make Their Day and Choose Your Attitude™. FISH! is a wisdom that everyone can embrace.

It is an invitation that enables people to care about each other and their commitments. FISH! is an ongoing journey. It is not a fad. It is a practice and a skill that evolves over time creating a positive workplace and a vibrant culture each time it is embraced.

“Today, I can truly say that our organization has undergone a metamorphosis. What a fantastic difference that FISH! has made in our office. My only regret is that we didn’t know about it sooner. FISH! has become a way of life for us. Our staff is happier, our patients are happier!”- Kimberly Hoch, Novus Clinic

The FISH! Philosophy® emerged in 1998 from the film, FISH! Catch the Energy, Release the Potential, produced by John Christensen — current CEO aka: Playground Director at ChartHouse Learning — this film is about the Seattle's world-famous Pike Place Fish Market. What John captured and translated into film was that even in a workplace where fishmongers spent stinky, grueling 12-hour shifts stocking, selling and packing fish, remarkable results can occur when people accept the invitation to:
1) Be There for their coworkers and customers;
2) Play;
3) Make someone's day, and;
4) Choose their attitude about how they show up for work.

As a result, the FISH! film, now has now been translated into 17 languages. Next came FISH! the book, currently translated into 34 languages. Other book titles include FISH! Sticks, FISH! Tales, FISH! For Life, and recently, Schools of FISH!. Our newest products, FISH! Culture and LeaderFISH! will help organizations take FISH! into a deeper level.

Today, FISH! is flourishing in corporate and educational markets throughout the world— championed by business leaders, HR, training professionals and individuals committed to creating a culture of trust, accountability and innovation.

"We're not afraid to use words like ‘love’ and ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’, because those are an essential part of our humanity. But these values are just as important to businesses. Every organization needs people who are passionate, committed and free to live the organization's vision through their personal values." ChartHouse Learning seeks strong relationships with its customers. "Our customers inspire us as much as we inspire them. We're on a journey together — a global community discovering a better way to live at work." -John Christensen

The FISH! Philosophy is an invitation to re-awaken the self-trusting, creative spirit within each of us. It inspires you to start new conversations about what's possible and to develop new attitudes about how you show up in your community both at home and in the workplace. FISH! inspires you to have fun again, at work, at school and at home every day of the week!

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

Creative Governance in Poverty Eradication

2008-03-26T06:41:00.006+11:00

I would like to reproduce here an article written by Colin Pridham, a volunteer for STLI , Scientific Technology Linguistic Institute (USA) who played a key role in establishing Talastronics (NGO) in Kyrgysztan to spearhead a poverty eradication initiative by teaching the poor villagers on how to program microchips. What an amazing project!

Even more amazing is that a Malaysian student studying in Australia has set up a blog ( http://villagersprogrammingmicrochips.blogspot.com/2008/03/keep-comments-coming_24.html) to collect donations to sponsor the these villagers to participate at the WCIT ( World Congress on Information Technology ) to be held in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia from May 18-22, 2008.

Both these initiatives are good illustrations of the concept of Creative Public Governance which in its broadest sense is to enhance the quality of life of the people through technology, social, economic and political innovations.

The article by Colin is repoduced below:

Revolutionary CoreChart microchip programming empowers under-privileged villagers in Kyrgyzstan to enable businesses that enrich their economy

With the help of a proven microchip programming technology, CoreChart from South Australia, and a well established, government supported and respected local NGO, ‘STLI ‘, we have implemented a program to train, equip and empower a group of local village people to be the fore-runners in developing their dream of reaching out to their local communities and neighbouring countries.

Underprivileged villagers from the regional Village of Talas, in Kyrgyzstan, are using CoreChart to offer control solutions to local businesses. For example our village team has learned to program microchips, through a sponsorship program, to optimize the timing and temperature control and data logging of a Candle Production facility. The aim is to dramatically improve efficiency and hence the profitability of the business.

Another project is to optimise the control of timing, temperature and ground soil conditions in glass houses to plant and maintain cash crops. It will create a tremendous business and economic impact as market gardeners all over Kyrgyzstan use glass houses for growing vegetables.

Other projects being planned include BioGas production and Wind Power Electricity generation in isolated villages. Wind Power generation is very important in villages because local people cannot afford to pay for electric heating. Most people in isolated villages live on $30USD or less.

We are keen to share this experience of how underprivileged village people form their own micro-businesses to realize their dream of empowering their own people to become more self sufficient through training and start up of ICT enterprises.

The pilot projects implemented to-date have demonstrated CoreChart’s ability to reach out and empower the under-privileged in the least developed countries (LDC). It has the potential to narrow the Great Digital Divide and a unique opportunity to eradicate poverty prevalent among the villagers. We believe our project can be scaled up through Professor CK Pralahad's vision of "Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid". Through this Vision, major businesses such as Visy, Pfizer, ANZ Bank, Macquarie bank, IBM, World Vision etc have recently formed the Business for Poverty Relief Alliance (BPRA). ). If Professor CK Pralahad is correct about eradication of poverty through profits, BPRAs around the world now have the opportunity to profit from a sustainable CoreChart Sponsorship for Poverty Relief project. It is only a matter of time when the under-privileged villagers from Kyrgysztan or Malaysia develop applications that require millions of microchips and financing to be supplied by BPRA in Malaysia.

The Kyrgysztan pilot project is now being expanded as CoreChart Sponsorship For Poverty Relief CCSPR in some of the least developed countries. It is promoted through NGOs and major global ICT events to provide a sustainable platform to relieve poverty. We believe it will have a profound impact on global poverty eradication.

Source:
Colin Pridham, volunteer for STLI , Scientific Technology Linguistic Institute (USA) who played a key role in establishing Talastronics (NGO) in Kyrgysztan,

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

Creative Governance though Prison Reforms

2008-02-10T19:05:00.000+11:00

Recently I came across two interesting news items on prison reforms. Governments worldwide spent a fortune on prison maintenance, yet generally the results are unsatisfactory. The two news items below, one from Norway, called the Eco-Prison and the other from Philippines called the Dancing prison are great examples of Creative Public Governance. More governments should explore such innovations in their prison reforms.

The world's first ecological prison

The minimum-security Bastoey Prison on a lush island, where inmates include murderers and rapists prison, operates with solar panels, wood-fire heating instead of oil, strict recycling and eco-friendly food production. There are no locked gates or barbed wire. This innovative project aims to help the 115 prisoners learn values such as protecting the environment and respecting others.

The prisoners live in unlocked houses, in and are responsible for the care of about 200 chickens, eight horses, 40 sheep and 20 cows. They also tend the fields, pick berries and fish on the prison supplied boat.

All of the prison's agricultural products are raised organically without fertilizers or pesticides. It strives to be energy self-sufficient, using renewable power.

The inmates are happy with their freedom living in an environment that gives them individual responsibility . It is effective as the system motivates them to reform their behavior . Those who misbehaved, which is rare, will be sent back to maximum security prisons.

This is a fantastic model for prison officials to experiment on. One benefit is that the Bastoey Prison has the lowest maintenance cost since very little is spent on security.

Cebu’s dancing prison

The champion of the prison reform in Cebu is Governor Gwendolyn Garcia. Garcia is the first woman governor in Cebu in 400 years. Beautiful and elegant, she was voted as one of best dressed ladies in the Philippines. Beneath her soft exterior, however, she is a tough woman. First, she fired dozens of jail guards for corruption, installed an enhanced security system, broke up gangs, banned guns and the use of cash and enforced an exercise regime that in the past year evolved into dance routines. 70 percent of the prison's inmates were convicted of serious crimes like murder, rape and narcotics trafficking.

The dances are choreographed by a professional choreographer. The footage of the dance by more than 1,500 prisoners to Michael Jackson song "Thriller." had been uploaded on YouTube. It has been viewed more than 10 million times and became one of the most popular clips ever on the video-sharing Web site.

This unique experiment has already proven to be a rehabilitation program. The documentary maker "Dancing for Discipline," commented that the inmates have the biggest smiles. The system restores the inmates sense of self-esteem .

Comment

If serious criminals can be rehabilitated using such “soft” approaches, how about other prisoners of lesser crimes? It is high time that governments adopt a more unconventional approach to prison rehabilitation.

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

Global Forum on Reinventing Government

2008-02-01T11:39:00.000+11:00

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

Creative Governance Begins With People Part 2

2008-01-28T17:17:00.000+11:00

Politicians like to associate with winners not whiners.
Dr.YKK

Creative Governance begins with people.

This Part 2 relates my personal experience in Mauritius several years ago.

Towards the end of my creativity consulting with the government, I was taken o one of the poorest villages to help to resolve some of their many outstanding problems. When I arrived there, there were only two people to meet me. This was because most of the villages were attending a reception and official visit by a Minister.

After waiting for nearly an hour when the visit was over, a handful of village officials trudged in. I was handed a list of over 20 problems. Since I had only about an hour left, I asked them to select only the most pressing problem to be resolved.

The most pressing problem was the prevalence of small potholes on the sandy pathways leading to the village. Because of this bus services could not be provided and the children had o walk a very long distance to the nearest school.

I began by asking a series of questions in order to understand the background of the problem. After this, I began to explore the possible solutions to them.

The final solution agreed upon was to set aside a certain day where each adult in the village will be responsible to fill up one pot-hole. Since the potholes were relatively small, a two or three buckets of soil or stones would be sufficient to do the job.

This project would be undertaken in a spirit of festivity where a Minister or senior politician would be invited to officiate. Furthermore, the mass media would be invited to cover the event. The intention was that once the potholes had been covered, the village spokesman would request the VIP guest to surface the road properly. This would be difficult for the VIP to refuse in full glare of publicity especially when the villagers have taken the effort and initiative to cover the potholes. Besides, it would make the VIP look good. And politicians like to associate with winners not whiners.

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

Creative Governance Begins With People

2008-01-10T14:22:00.000+11:00

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead

It is very common for people to blame the government they elected for every malady they faced. Yet as the famous anthropologist Margaret Mead says, A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

Creative Governance begins with people.

People talked about rights, but hardly ever about their responsibilities. As a consequence, billions of dollars in budget, resources and efforts were wasted. The community suffered as a result.

A blog on Andrew Mawson's book, The Social Entrepreneur: Making Communities Work reminded me of my own experience in Mauritius. Let me relate Mawsons experience first before sharing my own.

In the mid-1990s, a 35-year-old woman called Jean Vialls who was dying from cancer, was struggling to care for her two children, aged 16 and two, as well as her elderly parents. She was not getting the support she needed from social services and the National Health Service (NHS).Mawson decided to do something about it.

This was what Mawson wrote about the meeting with NHS and health officials:

This, then, was the NHS in action, and it was heartbreaking to witness. All the people in the room were incredibly well-meaning. They were in the caring professions for good reasons, probably to do with wanting to help and make a difference. But, somewhere along the way, they had lost touch with the realities of the lives of the people with whom they were dealing. The core business of the welfare state was meant to be people like Jean. But she had been forgotten about in the scramble to demonstrate equality of opportunity, or efficiency of delivery, or equitable use of public money. The NHS did not seem to understand who the customer was.

Mawson’s efforts to do something about the situation was stuck in bureaucracy until the Health Minister intervened. The success achieved (Bromley-by-Bow) was cited as a prototype for healthy living centres, aimed at improving health among poorer communities, and that would belong to the communities that they serve and not be parachuted in from the government machinery. However, without community involvement, many of the 257 centres established with millions in funding had proved unsustainable and were running out of money.

Who is at fault? I think it is a combination of both the government and the community. Perhaps funding from the Government should only be provided if it comes from a community initiative and not the other way round. I leave you to ponder over this point.

To read the full article, go to:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jan/09/socialenterprises.regeneration

I will share my experience in Mauritius in my next blog.

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

Creative Governance in Malaria Eradication & Overcoming Bureaucracy

2008-01-04T20:26:00.000+11:00

I came across two instances of Creative Governance practices that I would like to share with you on this blog. One involves a young Russian mayor who banned excuses from his staff and the other comes from a profitable social enterprise that helped to eradicate malaria in Kenya.

These two Creative Governance practices serve to highlight that bureaucracy and health issues can be solved with some creative thinking and commitment.

Malaria Eradication

Malaria will affect 300 million people worldwide this year and contribute to one in five childhood deaths in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. Malaria is not the only enemy; a handful of infectious diseases – all treatable with inexpensive generic drugs – accounts for 70 percent to 90 percent of childhood illness and death in the developing world.

HealthStore Foundation founder Scott Hillstrom combines microfinance with established franchising practices to address the simple problem of “getting the drugs to sick people when and where they are needed.

The foundation gives healthcare workers microloans (first created by Prof.Yunus from Bangladesh who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize) to open their own for-profit Child and Family Wellness (CFW)Shops which distribute medical products and services to remote communities in Kenya. Applying the basic principles of successful franchising, the foundation then trains the franchisees in uniform procedures, carefully selects locations, and conducts regular inspections to ensure quality and consistency. By 2005 the number of CFW shops had increased to 435,527.

Source: Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2007

Comments

This is an incredibly creative and socially responsive way to solve what seems like an intractable problem. It cleverly combines the characteristics of micro-financing and franchising to come out with this brilliant idea of HealthStore franchising. I believe that in the end it is business that will provide sustainable philanthropy. HealthStore proves that a profitable and socially responsible business is a great way to contribute human values and doing good to society.

Russian Mayor Bans Excuses

The mayor of Megion city in Russia has issued a list of excuses that he will not tolerate from civil servants. The phrases include: What can we do?" "It's not my job," "It's impossible," "I'm having lunch," and "There is no money." Alexander Kuzmin, the 33-year-old mayor of Megion, has banned these and 25 other phrases as a way to make his administration more efficient.

He said he was taking action as he was tired of civil servants telling him that problems were impossible to solve, rather than offering practical solutions.
"Town authorities are there to make town residents' life comfortable and prosperous," Kuzmin, a trained oil engineer who studied business administration in Canada, said in a statement posted on the town Web site. "Town officials must work out mechanisms to solve and remove problems, not to avoid them."

Officials who disobey the ban while in the mayor's office "will near the moment of their departure," the statement said.

Providing the mayor with wrong or incomplete information, or being late in reporting important information will be considered an attempt to undermine his work, it said.

Source : AP, 4 Sept. 2007

Comments

This is an excellent example of Creative Governance to eradicate irresponsible bureaucracy in the public service. Hope this provides food for thought for other ideas to improve the public service.
Talk on Creative Governance

The above are just two of the many stories on Creative Governance that I have collated.

Talk on Creative Governance

Please email me Dr.YKK 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

Creative Governance via Citizen Oversight

2008-01-01T11:51:00.000+11:00

It has been said that we need all the brains that we have and all the brains that we can borrow. Government administration can be much improved with the inputs from its citizens. In this regard, the Latin American countries provide excellent models of Creative Public Governance by establishing legal frameworks for Citizen Oversight.

Since I couldn’t find any definitions of Citizen Oversight on the web including Wikipedia, I have to create one. Here it is: Citizen Oversight is a legal framework where recognized citizen groups can act as watchdogs on the government for greater transparency , accountability and receptiveness to public opinion. I welcome readers to improve on this definition.

Though the Citizen Oversight systems differ from country to country in Latin America, what they have in common is a legal framework that allows citizens to keep watch over and monitor government action, such as "citizen assistance systems, oversight committees, participation in decision-making bodies, watchdog bodies, etc." Citizen oversight of public institutions and authorities is expanding in various shapes and forms in Latin America. It’s becoming more and more widely accepted by both the governments and their people.

One outstanding success is Brazil. Through its Citizen Oversight participation, Brazil now leads the world in participatory budgeting.

Another shining example is Chile. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet made a brave decision to place (on the web sites of ministries and public services) information at the public’s disposal, starting with the salaries of public employees and officials - something that no other previous administration had ever done.

Citizen Oversight is fast gaining popularity in the US too. A Google search on the term Citizen Oversight came out with 174,000 entries.

Comment

With easy access to the internet and increasing literacy levels, Citizen Oversight is a concept whose time has come. Surprisingly, it comes from what has often been perceived as repressive governments of Latin America rather than the advanced economies and open democratic political systems of the US and the European Union. Whatever it may be, it is not a matter of if but a matter of when, this concept will spread throughout the world. Governments should therefore prepare and take pro-active action to set up Citizen Oversight rather than have it forced on them by NGO pressure groups.

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

Creative Governance in Global Micro-lending

2007-12-31T13:22:00.000+11:00

Creative governance need not have to depend on original ideas. It can improve on an existing successful model.

Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh pioneered the concept of microfinance through his Grameen Bank. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in 2006.

Matt and Jessica Flannery who heard Mohammed Yunus’s talk at their university were so inspired that they decided to do something. They started a community site called Kiva to match individual would-be lenders with poor entrepreneurs via the Internet. Lenders visit the Kiva website, read about the businesspeople asking for support, and then loan as little as $25 to anyone they choose. Like the Grameen Bank , Kiva helps people out of poverty but on an expanded global scale , leveraging on the enormous reach of the internet.

Kiva (the word is Swahili for "unity"), in San Francisco, deals with potential borrowers through its network non-governmental organizations who disburse it to the entrepreneurs. Those same NGOs screen the various applicants before their requests are posted on Kiva. They have the responsibility of identifying responsible entrepreneurs, disbursing the loan, collecting repayments and giving lenders periodic updates on how the business is going.

The money is eventually paid back to the NGOs, sent back to Kiva and returned to the lender. The lender can choose to withdraw the money or lend it to someone else.

The Kiva concept was given a tremendous boost when it was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Today Show, and readers of former US President Bill Clinton's book Giving. This created a unique situation in charity where there was a shortage of businesses in need of loans!

Kiva's founders say their success is due in part to strategic partnerships with corporations like Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Starbucks, and PayPal and also to the dedication of its staff and volunteers.. They help reduce Kiva's cost of operations and help direct Internet users to the Kiva website.

Details of Kiva can be found in www.kiva.org.

Comments

For every success like Kiva, there must be hundreds of others which died a natural death due to lack of resources. The founders of Kiva were fortunate in that their friend and neighbor, Premal Shah, who was then an executive at the on-line payment company PayPal decided to join them.

It’s time for governments to practice Creative Governance by setting up a mechanism of support and funding to increase the chances of people like the Flannerys to succeed in their altruistic ambitions.

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

Creative Governance through Social Sector Investment

2007-12-30T11:25:00.000+11:00

I found US presidential candidate Barrack Obama’s call for social sector investment as a good example of Creative Public Governance.

According to Obama, while the federal government invests $7 billion in research and development for the private sector, there is no similar effort to support non-profit innovation. He promised that as President, he will launch a new Social Investment Fund Network. This Network will get the grass roots, the foundations, the private sector and the government at the table. It will invest in ideas that work; leverage private sector dollars to encourage innovation; and expand successful programs to scale. Obama will also launch a new Social Entrepreneur Agency to make sure that small non-profits have the same kind of support that the government gives to small businesses.

Among the specific projects that he has in mind are:

• Classroom Corps : College students, recent graduates and retirees mentor young people; engineers and scientists will help make sure the next generation of innovators is educated in America.

• Energy Corps : To free ourselves from energy dependence and to confront climate change, to work on renewable energy projects, to teach folks about conservation, to help clean up polluted areas and to send talented American engineers and scientists abroad to help developing countries promote low-carbon energy development.

• Peace Corps : Double the size by its 50th anniversary in 2011 to reach out to other nations to engage their young people in similar programs, so that we work side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all humanity.

• USA Freedom Corps : An online network where Americans can browse opportunities to volunteer. You’ll be able to search by category, time commitment, and skill sets; you’ll be able to rate service opportunities, build service networks, and create your own service pages to track your hours and activities.

• Social service for students: A goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students who perform 100 hours of service a year will be entitled ton annual American Opportunity Tax Credit of $4,000 to make tuition affordable.

In most developed and developing countries, there is a phenomenal growth in the non-profit sector. Many of them have pioneered social innovations that benefited the society immensely. More often than not the next great social innovation won’t be generated by the government but more likely by the non-profit sector. Investment in the non-profit social sector will create new opportunities for all its people to serve, and to direct that service to the most pressing national challenges.

To quote Obama: “We will create new opportunities for all Americans to serve, and to direct that service to our most pressing national challenges. … because when it comes to the challenges we face, the American people are not the problem – they are the answer.”

Talk on Creative Governance
Please email the blogger, Dr.YKK at DrYKK@mindbloom.net if you want to invite him 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.

Creative Governance through eGovernment

2007-12-27T09:39:00.000+11:00

Introduction

One of the most effective ways for Creative Public Governance with the widest reach and possibly with the greatest impact is through eGovernment.

It is a priority in the European Union which defines it as the use of information and communication technology in public administrations combined with organisational change and new skills in order to improve public services and democratic processes and strengthen support to public policies. The potential of eGovernment goes far beyond the early achievements of online public services.

The European Union Approach

The EU has even established a website on Breaking Barriers to eGovernment (Ref:www.egovbarriers.org/). The Barriers to eGovernment project team has identified seven key categories of barriers that can block or constrain progress on eGovernment: leadership failures; financial inhibitors; digital divides; poor coordination; workplace and organizational inflexibility; lack of trust; and poor technical design. The project aims to collect further information about barriers relating to eGovernment from stakeholders.

The approaches for overcoming these barriers seek tto stimulate innovation at least four key categories:

1. Legislative solutions, where legislation at member state or EU level has been or can be developed to overcome barriers to eGovernment, such as, harmonisation or co-ordination problems, identified as a key obstacle to eGovernment progression.

2. Technological solutions that build on innovative designs and uses of new communication and information technologies and applications in Europe or around the world. Potential solutions include the use of social networking and community sites, for example, broadly defined as Web 2.0. Can such applications be harnessed by government in creative and useful ways?

3. Citizen-centric solutions are those focused on empowering the users of eGovernment, creating real incentives for the public to use eGovernment applications, for example by more effective segmentation of the public that enables strategies to be tailored for specific groups, or by innovative ways of interacting with intermediaries standing between citizens and governments.

4. Organizational solutions are changes that can be made within the culture or structure of organizations to facilitate eGovernment, for example, understanding and addressing resistance of those who have considerable organizational learning invested in off-line channels.

The Korean Government Approach

The Korean eGovernment initiatives have won a number of awards. They include:

• United Nations Public Service Award (UNPSA) for 2007 to Korea's Ministry of Justice for its immigration clearance service KISS (Korea Immigration Smart Service)

• e-Asia Award for its online Korea's Public Procurement Service (PPS) system at the 25th Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (AFACT) held in Aug. 2007. PPS is the nation's largest online shopping mall for public organizations.

The success of the Korean model has attracted the interest of the China Government. China's State Council Information Office and the Korea's Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs signed a memorandum of understanding in the e-government sector in Feb. 2007 to explore the possibility of adopting the Korean model.

e-Government National Awards

The UK Government through its Cabinet Office created the world-wide e-Government National Awards 2007 (Ref: www.e-governmentawards.co.uk/ )with sponsorships from the private sector. The Awards recognise and praise the best in public sector ICT & e-Government - across local & central government, non-departmental public bodies, non-governmental organisations and other deliverers of e-government services.

Comment

The internet is playing an increasingly important role for the Government in the delivery of its services , interacting with the public and getting valuable feedback. It’s time that all Governments take and active interest in this and share their successful models to bring about a better world for their citizens.

The author, Kam Yew (Dr.YKK) is an international speaker, trainer and best-selling author on creativity. He is available for keynote speeches, in-house training and problem-solving & idea generation facilitation. He can be contacted at DrYKK@mindbloom.net

7 Progressions to Creative Governance

2007-12-09T08:05:00.000+11:00

Introduction

Creative Public Governance requires the courage to use unconventional ideas for social change that brings tangible benefits to the people. Though not labeled as such, practically every country practices it in one form or another. However, by not having a common label, these creative practices are not publicized and therefore not shared to the world at large. The benefits are only restricted to the country or often to the small community where it operates.

My intention is that by coining the self-explanatory term of Creative Public Governance, these practices will be popularized and spread much more widely , ultimately spearheading a world-wide movement to create a better world for all of us.

Creative Public Governance need not be introduced officially by the government . In fact, it can be pioneered by an individual. The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Prof. Mohamad Yunus, for example developed the concept of micro-financing to help the poor. It has now permeated to many parts of the world even to advanced and developed countries.

I believe that in order to accelerate the diffusion of Creative Public Governance , a methodology is required. Based on my research and observations, I have developed the 7 Progressions to Creative Governance. I welcome your feedback.

The 7 Progressions to Creative Governance

1. Identifying the Core issue
2. Taking the Michelangelo approach
3. Searching globally for successful solutions
4. Innovating the wheel
5. Facilitating participative re-creation
6. Sensitizing, elaborating & winning acceptance
7. Recognizing & celebrating

1. Identifying the Core issue

Creative governance begins by asking questions to identify the core issue – identifying the cause and not just the symptoms. For example , if there is a drop in enrolment in science education , what is the underlying cause? Is it employability, teaching, facilities, perception, etc. We can do research on research that have been undertaken in this field as practically almost every issue has been researched before. Talk to the people on the ground who are the most affected. If necessary, do a confirmation research. The important thing to avoid is paralysis through analysis.

2. Taking the Michelangelo approach

The common approach is to start from where we are to where we want to go. A better way is that of Michelangelo approach where he visualized the image of David before he freed the figure by chipping away the unwanted pieces. Thus this approach involves starting from the destination and removing current obstacles that could obstruct its path.

3. Searching globally for successful solutions

Before trying new ideas, first do a search on whether a similar problem ahs been solved before. Sometimes the same or similar problem had already been solved in a small community within the same country itself. Many public innovations have been featured in magazines, papers and e-publications. Even unrelated creative solutions could trigger over practical innovations for public governance. This search will save a lot of time and reduces risk.

4. Innovating the wheel

Once successful solutions have been found, the next step is to adapt the solution to the issue at hand. This progression is termed “ Innovating the wheel” as there’s no need to re-invent a new solution when you can creatively imitate a proven workable successful solution. The creativity lies with the adaptation process.

5. Facilitating participative re-creation

This is an important step to get involvement of all stakeholders in formulating a solution. Their involvement will ensure their support for implementation and possible mitigate objections and protests. Moreover, it will cultivate a sense of ownership of the community.

6. Sensitizing, elaborating & winning acceptance

Progression 5 will only accommodate a limited number of interested stakeholders in the project. Prior to carrying out implementation, it is imperative to sensitize the involved the community on solution through the mass media or other forms of communication to let them know hat is coming. Then , it is followed by elaboration of the plans which could be politically and socially sensitive. Some people with vested interest could also be adversely affected.

7. Recognizing & celebrating

There’s nothing like recognition and celebration at both the launching and celebration of the project to motivate the community to support future projects. It will instill a sense of pride and ownership among members of the community, the government agencies concerned and the politicians who made the project possible.

The author, Kam Yew is an international speaker, trainer and best-selling author on creativity. He is available for keynote speeches, in-house training and problem-solving & idea generation facilitation. He can be contacted at DrYKK@mindbloom.net

Creative Public Governance

2007-12-03T12:03:00.000+11:00

Is Kevin Rudd Ready for Creative Governance?

The people of Australia have spoken and they have voted for change. Kevin Rudd, the incoming Prime Minister has unveiled his team of change leaders. They have the historic opportunity to establish the best government the world has ever seen to leave behind an enduring legacy. Best government is about providing creative solutions in support of the fulfillment of our people’s needs and aspirations rather than stamping out social problems. This is where the concept of creative public governance lies.

Public governance is concerned with the conduct of governments at all levels to bring the best possible benefits to their citizens and to fulfill their responsibilities as members of the global community. I coined the term Creative Public Governance to define a system of government administration that embraces and introduces innovations to enhance the quality of life of the people using minimum resources for maximum lasting impact. It focuses on what to achieve rather than what to prevent. Fulfillment leads to joy and contentment whereas frustrations breed violence, crime and emotional turmoil. It is about changing mindsets and it starts with the leaders. Creativity begins by asking the right questions to identify the core issues and not taking the easy path to a temporary feel-good factor by addressing the symptoms. It is about exploiting limitations to drive breakthrough action. Creative Governance demands exploiting limits not ignoring them.

For Creative Governance to happen, strong and courageous leadership is required. Where consensus is required, leadership dies! Consensus is great when trying to determine which restaurant to go to for a meal not when charting a new course for the government. A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets rough. A great leader seeks wise counsel and listens carefully. The leader projects the vision of the new course and acts decisively. When success is achieved, the leader says, "We did it!" If mistakes are made, the leader says, "I made a mistake. Let’s learn from it and move on."

Creative Governance minimizes mistakes and risks by adapting successful innovations in the public arena and not by creating new ideas. Creativity is used in imitating something good to make it even better. Experimentation is risky, costly, time-consuming with no guarantee of success. The Rudd’s government which already hit the ground running can ill-afford this highly uncertain experimental approach.

I have collated many examples from all over the world on what I consider to be creative governance and would like to highlight some of them here to enable you to understand, appreciate and relate them to the context of their possible implementation in Australia.

Creative Governance with Helmet Mounted Police Cameras

Police in UK had found a very effective and innovative way in tackling anti social behavior and violent crime. They found that digital cameras attached to police officers' helmets to be excellent evidence gathering tool and a visible crime deterrent. A camera about the size of a marker pen is fitted to the police helmets and officers can immediately hit a record button and tape what's happening in front of them.

The images are digitally encrypted onto a recording device attached to the officers' belt line. An essential feature of the cameras is that images cannot be deleted or edited in any way so that they could be used as evidence in courts. The indisputable evidence recorded by the helmet camera means that offenders have less opportunity to deny their involvement, leading to less paperwork for the police, earlier guilty pleas, less time spent in court and an increase in convictions. An unexpected additional benefit is that complaints on police brutality stopped since the police behavior is also captured on the camera.

Preliminary results show that the cameras are highly effective in crime convictions and prevention. Due to these cameras, arrests for violent crime have increased by 85 per cent in one area whilst at the same time the incidence of violent crimes has also fallen by between eight per cent to 18 per cent.

Isn’t time that the Australian police adapt this system for implementation?

Creative Governance for Drunken Rampage

A small town in the U.K had a problem with unruly young men after a drinking session at a local pub. In their drunk condition, they went on a rampage in the surrounding areas smashing cars and damaging public property. Many were hauled to jail to sober them up. However, the number of offences shot up instead of being reduced.

The police chief was in a fix. Through his discreet investigations, he discovered that the reason for the increase in drunk-related offences was the youth's perception of a 'macho image'. Those who went to jail actually boasted about achieving true manhood!

By understanding the problem, the police chief came out with an ingenious solution. He treated the jailed offenders like babies. They were fed baby food, given milk in baby milk bottles and spoken to by the wardens in the baby language. In a small community, news of this "baby treatment" spread like wildfire. Guess what? The offences disappeared as quickly as they had appeared! Perhaps this treatment could be meted out to the football hooligans as well.

This could be a valuable idea for the Australian police to consider mitigating drunken rampage especially among who just reached the drinking age of 18.

Creative Governance in Education

Education reform should focus on soft-wares and not hard-wares. It is about equipping your young people with knowledge and creative thinking skills. Unlike the older generations, they are born into the computer and internet generation. The education reform needs to reflect this.

I have selected an excellent example of Creative Governance in Education from Australia’s own backyard. In Adelaide, a small company eLabtronics has recently won the Electronics Industry Association’s inaugural award Support of Electronics Education for its contribution to Robotics Peer Mentoring program, for High School students. The company’s software Corechart has been described as a revolutionary technology breakthrough likened to Windows for microchip programming. The Anthill Australian business magazine termed it as a disruptive technology.

The students love and take to it like fish take to water. There is no programming language to learn. Since practically every electronic gadget or equipment contains microchips, the software has unlimited applicability. In fact, the students have used it to solve some of the pressing social problems in Australia such as water conservation, prolonging dry cell battery life by more than 10 times, more efficient usage of electricity, etc. So far, it has successfully stimulated interest in science and technology. Best of all, Corechart has been offered as technology sponsorship for interested parties, many foreign countries have already indicated interest. Surprising in Australia, despite it winning many awards and proven effectiveness, it has yet to find traction with the education authorities.

Perhaps the Education Minister Julia Gillard should take up the sponsorship offered by eLabtronics to create instant microchip programming geniuses to spark the education revolution. After all, computers without the right software to excite the imagination of the users will not go very far. Take concrete action before it escapes from the Australian shores again, just like many great Australian inventions (the black –box flight recorder, for example) before it.

Creative Governance in Urban Development

The city of Curitiba in Brazil offers one of the best examples of Creative Governance in urban development, including public transportation.

In 1972, the new mayor of the city Jaime Lerner, an architect and urban planner ordered a 48 hours transformation of six blocks of the street into a pedestrian zone. The municipal authorities were able to accomplish it in three days.

The creation of the pedestrian zone inaugurated a series of programs by Lerner that made Curitiba a famous model for urban planning. In promoting industrial development Lerner decided to admit only non-polluters. Curitiba constructed an industrial district that reserved so much land for green space that it was derided as a “golf course” until it succeeded in filling up with major businesses. Through the creation of over 20 recreational parks, many with lakes to catch runoff in low-lying areas that flood periodically, Curitiba managed, at a time of explosive population growth, to increase its green areas from 5 square feet per inhabitant to an astounding 560 square feet. The city promoted “green” policies before they were fashionable and called itself “the ecological capital of Brazil” in the 1980s.

Another of its famous innovations is the introduction of glass tubes that are boarding platforms for the rapid-transit buses. A light rail system would have required 20 times the financial investment and a subway would have cost 100 times as much.

Sydney’s Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, is on the right track when she engaged Danish architect and planner Jan Gehl.to transform Sydney. Now that the plan is ready, let’s hope implementation will take place speedily. This is one aspect of creative governance where proven expertise is sourced externally. In effect, it doesn’t matter where the ideas come from. Just start with adapting proven concepts and do some experimentations along the way.

Recently, the problems in the public transportation system in Sydney involving its trains, ferry and buses has been highlighted in the press. Instead of looking each transport mode separately, why not take a integrated approach and incorporate some of the features of the Curitiba transportation system?

Creative Governance in Aged Care

Using ‘happiness’ is his working principle, Dr. Hans Becker, chairman of the Humanitas Rotterdam Foundation in Netherlands transformed the Aged Care industry from one of institutionalisation to that of a vibrant living environment. It provides a marvellous example on how creative governance can be introduced into aged care.

Through his innovations, Becker restored joy of living, pride and dignity to Humanitas apartment elderly residents. He established a system that supports the self-determination, self-reliance, fun and bonding among its residents, carers, employees as well as revitalizing its neighborhood community.

The design of Age-proof residential complexes specifically manifests the core values and concepts of Humanitas. The complexes have cheerful and roofed-in village squares, often atriums. To accentuate well-being, the cure and care activities (physiotherapy, occupational therapy, nursing homes, etc) are a little hidden, while the cheerful and activating well-being services (luxurious restaurants, internet cafes, bars, hairdressers salons, supermarkets, beauty parlors, music) are prominently located at the centre. Cuddly pets, art and alcoholic drinks (‘a bottle a day keeps the doctor away’) are also encouraged. These facilities are open to the neighbourhood community thereby contributing to its vibrancy. In particular, this openness contributes to ‘excitement’ to the residents - something more interesting to talk about instead of complaining about illnesses.

The Humanitas model is something that the Ministry of Health and Ageing should consider since its funding system is similar to that of the Australian age-care. In fact, Australia too has its own creative governance in aged-care. Disused warehouses and other suburban buildings are being transformed into workshops and social gathering places for older men to get together, helping them to maintain their physical and emotional health. It also fosters cross-generation communication as the seniors impart their tool using skills to the younger generation. This so-called Men's Shed movement receives government grants and help from local councils, voluntary groups and churches.

Recommendation

Peter Drucker, the top management guru says that creativity need not be about coming out with new ideas. It can also be just adapting a great idea creatively to a local situation . He calls it creative imitation. An important step that the Rudd Government should take is to set up a Creative Governance unit in every department coordinated by his office. The key function of this unit is to do world-wide search on successful innovations that have relevance to his Government’s plans. After all, there’s no need to re-invent the wheel. All that is required is to improve the model and find new uses for it.

Kevin Rudd’s Government will then have the distinction of being the first Government in the world to place Creative Governance as the foundation stone for the implementation of his policies. If he does, the Australian Government will be the best in the world and a model for the rest of the world to follow.

Conclusion

The above write-up only offers a glimpse of what creative governance can do for the incoming government of Kevin Rudd. It would not be possible to explore its full potentiality without a proper presentation followed by Questions and Answers. In any case the term “Creative Public Governance” is a termed I coined to describe a possible fresh approach for the new leadership.

The author, Dr.YKK is an international speaker, trainer and best-selling author on creativity. Dr.YKK is available for keynote speeches, in-house training and problem-solving & idea generation facilitation. He can be contacted at DrYKK@mindbloom.net
3 Dec 2007

Is Kevin Rudd Ready for Creative Governance?

2007-12-03T11:36:00.000+11:00

The people of Australia have spoken and they have voted for change. Kevin Rudd, the incoming Prime Minister has unveiled his team of change leaders. They have the historic opportunity to establish the best government the world has ever seen to leave behind an enduring legacy. Best government is about providing creative solutions in support of the fulfillment of our people’s needs and aspirations rather than stamping out social problems. This is where the concept of creative public governance lies.

Creative Public Governance is a system of governance that embraces and introduces innovations to enhance the quality of life of the people on a sustainable basis. It focuses on what to achieve rather than what to prevent. Fulfillment leads to joy and contentment whereas frustrations breed violence, crime and emotional turmoil. It is about changing mindsets and it starts with the leaders. Creativity begins by asking the right questions to identify the core issues and not taking the easy path to a temporary feel-good factor by addressing the symptoms. It is about exploiting limitations to drive breakthrough action. Creative Governance demands exploiting limits not ignoring them.

For Creative Governance to happen, strong and courageous leadership is required. Where consensus is required, leadership dies! Consensus is great when trying to determine which restaurant to go to for a meal not when charting a new course for the government. A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets rough. A great leader seeks wise counsel and listens carefully. The leader projects the vision of the new course and acts decisively. When success is achieved, the leader says, "We did it!" If mistakes are made, the leader says, "I made a mistake. Let’s learn from it and move on."

Creative Governance minimizes mistakes and risks by adapting successful innovations in the public arena and not by creating new ideas. Creativity is used in imitating something good to make it even better. Experimentation is risky, costly, time-consuming with no guarantee of success. The Rudd’s government which already hit the ground running can ill-afford this highly uncertain experimental approach.

I have collated many examples from all over the world on what I consider to be creative governance and would like to highlight four of them here to enable you to understand, appreciate and relate them to the context of their possible implementation in Australia

Creative Governance with Helmet Mounted Police Cameras

Police in UK had found a very effective and innovative way in tackling anti social behavior and violent crime. They found that digital cameras attached to police officers' helmets to be excellent evidence gathering tool and a visible crime deterrent. A camera about the size of a marker pen is fitted to the police helmets and officers can immediately hit a record button and tape what's happening in front of them.

The images are digitally encrypted onto a recording device attached to the officers' belt line. An essential feature of the cameras is that images cannot be deleted or edited in any way so that they could be used as evidence in courts. The indisputable evidence recorded by the helmet camera means that offenders have less opportunity to deny their involvement, leading to less paperwork for the police, earlier guilty pleas, less time spent in court and an increase in convictions. An unexpected additional benefit is that complaints on police brutality stopped since the police behavior is also captured on the camera.

Preliminary results show that the cameras are highly effective in crime convictions and prevention. Due to these cameras, arrests for violent crime have increased by 85 per cent in one area whilst at the same time the incidence of violent crimes has also fallen by between eight per cent to 18 per cent.

Isn’t time that the Australian police adapt this system for implementation?

Creative Governance in Education

Education reform should focus on soft-wares and not hard-wares. It is about equipping your young people with knowledge and creative thinking skills. Unlike the older generations, they are born into the computer and internet generation. The education reform needs to reflect this.

I have selected an excellent example of Creative Governance in Education from Australia’s own backyard. In Adelaide, a small company eLabtronics has recently won the Electronics Industry Association’s inaugural award Support of Electronics Education for its contribution to Robotics Peer Mentoring program, for High School students. The company’s software Corechart has been described as a revolutionary technology breakthrough likened to Windows for microchip programming. The Anthill Australian business magazine termed it as a disruptive technology.

The students love and take to it like fish take to water. There is no programming language to learn. Since practically every electronic gadget or equipment contains microchips, the software has unlimited applicability. In fact, the students have used it to solve some of the pressing social problems in Australia such as water conservation, prolonging dry cell battery life by more than 10 times, more efficient usage of electricity, etc. So far, it has successfully stimulated interest in science and technology. Best of all, Corechart has been offered as technology sponsorship for interested parties, many foreign countries have already indicated interest. Surprising in Australia, despite it winning many awards and proven effectiveness, it has yet to find traction with the education authorities.

Perhaps the incoming education minister should take a good look at it before it escapes from the Australian shores again, just like many great Australian inventions (the black –box plane recorder, for example) before it.

Creative Governance in Urban Development

The city of Curitiba in Brazil offers one of the best examples of Creative Governance in urban development, including public transportation..

In 1972, the new mayor of the city Jaime Lerner, an architect and urban planner ordered a 48 hours transformation of six blocks of the street into a pedestrian zone. The municipal authorities were able to accomplish it in three days.

The creation of the pedestrian zone inaugurated a series of programs by Lerner that made Curitiba a famous model for urban planning. In promoting industrial development Lerner decided to admit only non-polluters. Curitiba constructed an industrial district that reserved so much land for green space that it was derided as a “golf course” until it succeeded in filling up with major businesses. Through the creation of over 20 recreational parks, many with lakes to catch runoff in low-lying areas that flood periodically, Curitiba managed, at a time of explosive population growth, to increase its green areas from 5 square feet per inhabitant to an astounding 560 square feet. The city promoted “green” policies before they were fashionable and called itself “the ecological capital of Brazil” in the 1980s.

Another of its famous innovations is the introduction of glass tubes that are boarding platforms for the rapid-transit buses. A light rail system would have required 20 times the financial investment and a subway would have cost 100 times as much.

Sydney’s Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, is on the right track when she engaged Danish architect and planner Jan Gehl.to transform Sydney. Now that the plan is ready, let’s hope implementation will take place speedily. This is one aspect of creative governance where proven expertise is sourced externally. In effect, it doesn’t matter where the ideas come from. Just start with adapting proven concepts and do some experimentations along the way.

Recently, the problems in the public transportation system in Sydney involving its trains, ferry and buses has been highlighted in the press. Instead of looking each transport mode separately, why not take a integrated approach and incorporate some of the features of the Curitiba transportation system?

Creative Governance in Aged Care

Using ‘happiness’ is his working principle, Dr. Hans Becker, chairman of the Humanitas Rotterdam Foundation in Netherlands transformed the Aged Care industry from one of institutionalisation to that of a vibrant living environment. It provides a marvellous example on how creative governance can be introduced into aged care.

Through his innovations, Becker restored joy of living, pride and dignity to Humanitas apartment elderly residents. He established a system that supports the self-determination, self-reliance, fun and bonding among its residents, carers, employees as well as revitalizing its neighborhood community.

The design of Age-proof residential complexes specifically manifests the core values and concepts of Humanitas. The complexes have cheerful and roofed-in village squares, often atriums. To accentuate well-being, the cure and care activities (physiotherapy, occupational therapy, nursing homes, etc) are a little hidden, while the cheerful and activating well-being services (luxurious restaurants, internet cafes, bars, hairdressers salons, supermarkets, beauty parlors, music) are prominently located at the centre. Cuddly pets, art and alcoholic drinks (‘a bottle a day keeps the doctor away’) are also encouraged. These facilities are open to the neighbourhood community thereby contributing to its vibrancy. In particular, this openness contributes to ‘excitement’ to the residents - something more interesting to talk about instead of complaining about illnesses.

The Humanitas model is something that the Ministry of Health and Ageing should consider since its funding system is similar to that of the Australian age-care. In fact, Australia too has its own creative governance in aged-care. Disused warehouses and other suburban buildings are being transformed into workshops and social gathering places for older men to get together, helping them to maintain their physical and emotional health. It also fosters cross-generation communication as the seniors impart their tool using skills to the younger generation. This so-called Men's Shed movement receives government grants and help from local councils, voluntary groups and churches.

Recommendation

Peter Drucker, the top management guru says that creativity need not be about coming out with new ideas. It can also be just adapting a great idea creatively to a local situation . He calls it creative imitation. An important step that the Rudd Government should take is to set up a Creative Governance unit in every department coordinated by his office. The key function of this unit is to do world-wide search on successful innovations that have relevance to his Government’s plans. After all, there’s no need to re-invent the wheel. All that is required is to improve the model and find new uses for it.

Kevin Rudd’s Government will then have the distinction of being the first Government in the world to place Creative Governance as the foundation stone for the implementation of his policies. If he does, the Australian Government will be the best in the world and a model for the rest of the world to follow.

Conclusion

The above write-up only offers a glimpse of what creative governance can do for the incoming government of Kevin Rudd. It would not be possible to explore its full potentiality without a proper presentation followed by Questions and Answers. In any case the term “Creative Public Governance” is a termed I coined to describe a possible fresh approach for the new leadership.

The author, Dr.YKK is an international speaker, trainer and best-selling author on creativity. Dr.YKK is available for keynote speeches, in-house training and problem-solving & idea generation facilitation. He can be contacted at DrYKK@mindbloom.net
3 Dec 2007