June 2014

Brussels, 10 July 2014 — The European Union welcomes the agreement reached on 9 July 2014 on a new United Nations convention to strengthen transparency in investor-state disputes.

The Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration will make it easier to apply the UN’s transparency rules to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) carried out under existing investment treaties.

‘Improving transparency in ISDS is crucial,’ said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, welcoming the development. ‘Yesterday’s agreement shows that more and more countries are committed to transparency in ISDS. It also shows that we can improve existing investment treaties by working together.’

Read the full article in the European Commission website: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1121.

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Barcelona, 9 July 2014: UN Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Aisa Kacyira, has said that we can improve governance in our cities and urban areas by harnessing the power of information technology.

Speaking at a conference on technology in Barcelona, Spain, Ms Kacyira said that with the world’s growing population, the number of youth in cities was also growing along with access to affordable information communication technology.

“We have seen the dramatic changes that can occur when these trends merge,” said Ms Kacyira, “Sweeping societal transformation that can recast the relationship between citizens and their governments.”

The Fab City Symposium took place at the beginning of the week at the Disseny Hub Barcelona.  The one-day event focused on the principles, applications and implications of digital fabrication, with special focus on rethinking the role of technology, policy and society in the development of self-sufficiency strategies for productive cities.

The symposium centred on four key areas of debate: Advanced research on Digital Fabrication; the role of industry and corporations at this time of change; the potential social impact of new technologies; and the governance of innovation and technology in future cities.

Xavier Trias, Mayor of the City of Barcelona led the closing ceremony with other mayors from major cities of the world in participation.

This article originally appeared in the UN-HABITAT website: http://unhabitat.org/harness-it-to-improve-urban-governance-kacyira/

File photo of Dr. Aisa Kacyira courtesy of UN-HABITAT.

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In an interview with The Korea Herald, Anne Marie Sloth Carlsen, director of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Seoul Policy Center, said UNDP wants to deepen its partnership with Korea, particularly in green technologies and anti-corruption, areas where UNDP and Korea can combine expertise and resources. “And why anti-corruption?” noted Carlsen. “Because it’s where the UNDP is strong and Korea has a lot of measures, institutions and so on.”

Read the full story by Shin Hyon-hee in The Korea Herald.

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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

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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)

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