14 June 2014

The United Nations Public Service Awards (UNPSA) is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service. It rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions to a more effective and responsive public administration in countries worldwide in four categories. These are Improving Delivery of Public Services, Fostering Participation in Public Policy-making Decisions through Innovative Mechanisms, Promoting Whole-of-Government Approaches in the Information Age and Promoting Gender-responsive Delivery of Public Services.

Through an annual competition, the United Nations Public Service Awards Programme promotes the role, professionalism and visibility of public service. It encourages exemplary public service and recognizes that democracy and successful governance are built on a competent civil service. In brief, the Awards aim to discover innovations in governance; reward excellence in the public sector; motivate public servants to further promote innovation; enhance professionalism in the public service; raise the image of public service; enhance trust in government; and collect and disseminate successful practices for possible replication.

Some of this year’s winning projects involve: improving education; increasing access to potable water in rural areas; improving access to and the quality of health care; integrating government data including social security systems; enhancing transparency through increased access to information for citizens; and reducing infant mortality rate among other efforts.

The 2014 winners are from the following countries:

1^st place winners: Austria, Bahrain, Brazil, Morocco, Oman, Republic of Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay

2^nd place winners:  Bahrain, Brazil, Cameroon, India, Republic of Korea, Spain

Read more information about the winning countries here: http://workspace.unpan.org/sites/Internet/Documents/winner%20fact%20sheet%20with%20flags.docx.pdf  (close out sign in box to view)

For background information about the United Nations Public Service Awards and past winners, please visit: http://www.unpan.org/unpsa.

Past winning projects of the United Nations Public Service Awards are available as iPad and iPhone applications at: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/un-innovations-in-public-governance/id443218537?mt=8#.

Follow the United Nations Public Service Forum and Awards on social media:
Facebook: United Nations Public Administration Network

Twitter: @unpan

Official Hashtags: #unpsa2014 #unpsa

Source: UN Department of Public Information

http://unpan.org/DPADM/UNPSDayAwards/UNPublicServiceAwards/tabid/1522/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Read more

Corruption and state capture in Europe and Central Asia region still hamper efforts aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), impacting negatively the quality of life, access to social services, harming the business environment and the effective delivery of the public service. As such, governance and anti-corruption have being increasingly prioritized as one of the top priorities in the National Development Plans across Europe and Central Asia.

With the aim of promoting a coherent and systematic approach in the region towards Transparency, Accountability and Anti-corruption, UNDP, with the support of UNODC, organized the regional training “Integrating Anti-Corruption into the UN Programming Processes”, on June 9-10, in Istanbul, turkey.

The training targeted focal points from twelve countries that are currently undergoing the development of new UN Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAF); these documents will provide guidance for the work of various UN Agencies at the country level during the next five years. Participating countries included: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, FYRO Macedonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan.

The training equipped participants with practical tools and knowledge to integrate anti-corruption analysis, activities and targets in the UNDAFs. This initiative has proved to be instrumental in other regions and countries (Kenya, Madagascar, and Iraq among others) to enhance the country analysis and strategic planning phases of UNDAF, by integrating the anti-corruption perspective as a critical driver in the achievement of development results. UNDP and UNODC will follow up with the different focal points in the EE and CIS region on the opportunities and challenges for the integration of anti-corruption in the UN programming process.   

For more information about this initiative contact: Anga Timilsina (anga.timilsina@undp.org) and Francesco Checchi (Francesco.checchi@undp.org)

Read more

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has completed a project to provide global web access to African governance data. The project includes the AfriGAP Data Portal and the AfriGAP Open Data Platform. Both consolidate quantitative indicators on the quality of governance and democracy in African countries, and provide users with simple tools to analyze this data.
 
The AfriGAP Data Portal provides policymakers, analysts, researchers, experts in social and political science and other specialists with a one-stop-shop platform to navigate and also compare indicators on various themes of governance (corruption, citizen participation, human rights, natural resources, conflict, etc.), from both African and international sources. It offers customized tools for data management, analysis and display, including keyword search for finding relevant information within a fraction of the usual time. The solution’s interactive maps, charts and diagrams graphically demonstrate the progress of governance reforms across Africa. Users can generate analytical reports to print, export to external data formats, and share via social media.
 
The AfriGAP Open Data Platform facilitates collection and sharing of data on emerging and crucial topics such as economic governance, democratic institutions, civil society and media, and more. Through this platform, users can work with existing data, load custom data sets, visualize data, analyze the selected indicators at national and regional levels, contact other users, and share reports and charts.
 
UNDP project partners include Afro Barometer, Africa Governance Institute, Global Integrity, Mo Ibrahim Foundation, State of the Union, and Trust Africa.
 
Read the full story in Digital Journal.

Read more

The UNDP-sponsored Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Network unveiled its first youth advocacy project on June 11, 2014 to lay the foundation for a corruption-free future in Thailand. The project, “Refuse To Be Corrupt” cafe chain, will be piloted early next year.
 

Photo courtesy of Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Network.

The unveiling of the project was marked by the partnership signing ceremony between UNDP, True Coffee, Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand, Khon Kaen University, and Ubon Ratchathani University. The partnership will provide students with professional knowledge and means to set up and run the cafes. The cafes will serve as active communities for the students to tackle the enemy of Thai society: Corruption. This is a space created by the youth, for the youth.
 
In Thailand, corruption is a serious and complex issue, affecting many strands of Thai society, but “the future must not belong to the corrupt few who steal the country’s resources,” said Luc Stevens, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Thailand in remarks during the ceremony. “The future of Thailand must be won by educated youth who seek transparency, accountability and justice. This is a vision we will support.”
 
The first two “Refuse To Be Corrupt” cafés are to be set up in the campuses of Khon Kaen University and Ubon Ratchathani University and will later expand to other places. The “Refuse To Be Corrupt” cafés will give young people a space to sit down and discuss issues, share their views among their peers, and organize events and map out plans to tackle corruption. The profit of the cafes will go directly to support their anti-corruption activities.
 
“This is an innovative idea to really engage the students. They are already excited, and we, in the private sector, are proud to help the students to understand corruption and give them an opportunity to run their business responsibly and corruption-free,” said Pramon Sutivong, Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand.
 

Photo courtesy of Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Network.

Thai Youth Anti-Corruption Network is an active group of over 6,000 students from over 90 universities across Thailand on a mission to eliminate corruption through the empowerment of young people. Founded in 2011, the Network ran a series of campaigns to raise awareness among the youth.
 
This partnership signing ceremony was held ahead of UNDP’s regional dialogue on “Accelerating Human Development in Asia-Pacific: Transparency, Accountability and Voices against Corruption”. UNDP has an on-going Global Anti-Corruption Initiative, and the “Refuse To Be Corrupt Cafes” are one of many innovative ideas that UNDP is working on in the Region to support a healthy growth of a new generation of civil citizenship.
 
The effort is supported by universities and the private sector, led by True Corporation Plc. “We are honoured to have the opportunity to lend our hands to create the venues for students to undergo various creative activities for the society. Aside from the knowledge and lessons learned from running their own business, the students can also contribute to the creation of a knowledge-based society as well as raise fund for their future projects,” said Mr. Virat Techanirattisai, General Manager, True Lifestyle Retail Co., Ltd.  
 
Students from the two participating universities will attend an anti-corruption camp in August. They will then submit proposals to run their own social enterprise café in September. The winning team will then be put in charge to organize regular events and activities on corruption issues when the cafe opens early next year.
 
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Kwanpadh Suddhi-Dhamakit, Programme Analyst with UNDP in Thailand
Email: kwanpadh.suddhi-dhamakit@undp.org
 
Website: www.tyanticorruption.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TYAnticorruption

Read more

Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a US$1.6-million project to enhance anti-corruption efforts in Vietnam. The project is funded jointly by the United Nations Development Programme and the Vietnam Government. It will strengthen the Vietnam Government’s anti-corruption capacity through fully observing provisions of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and raising the role of the non-state sector in anti-corruption activities.

Read the story in Voice of Vietnam.

Read more