United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Division for Public Administration and Development Management

Transcription

1 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Division for Public Administration and Development Management Expert Group Meeting on ENGAGING CITIZENS TO ENHANCE PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTABILITY AND PREVENT CORRUPTION IN THE DELIVERY OF PUBLIC SERVICES Vienna International Centre, Vienna, Austria, 7-8 July Introduction The United Nations (UN) Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), particularly through the Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM), is seeking to gather and disseminate knowledge from around the world regarding the engagement of citizens to enhance accountability and prevent corruption in public service delivery, specifically in connection to services related to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The meeting is also to have a collective assessment by experts from diverse countries on the practices and institutions in this matter, to identify what works, and in which contexts. The ultimate objective is to share this information with development stakeholders from all countries and to provide policy advice to all interested member States of the United Nations, for them to evaluate if there are possible improvements to be attained in their public administration along these lines to accelerate progress towards the MDGs. 2. Characteristics of the Meeting Approximately 40 experts from government and civil society organizations, in 20 developed and developing countries, and from 8 international organizations, will attend the meeting. This will be conducted as a series of collective deliberations on concrete aspects of the central theme, following the agenda presented in this note. Thus, the format of the meeting aims to prioritize deliberation and interaction among all experts, to generate collective knowledge. Lecture type presentations will not take place, so as to make the meeting more agile and dynamic. At the start of the 2-day meeting, a Chairperson will be selected among participants, to conduct the overall event in an orderly manner and help the entire group secure that the objectives of the meeting are effectively met in a satisfactory manner. For each session, there will be a moderator, whose role will be to stimulate the active intervention of all experts in the discussions, and to promote that deliberations are 1

2 maintained focused and at the highest professional level, fully utilizing the knowledge and expertise of everyone. To kick-start the discussion in each session, five of the experts will take the lead presenting briefly some general facts and making some personal remarks on the respective themes, seeking to set the stage for the group discussion during the session. Then, all experts will take part in the deliberations, following up, complementing, deepening or debating on the issues raised in the initial interventions. Notes will be taken by a Rapporteur, as inputs for an analytical report to be prepared after the meeting, documenting in a structured way all matters discussed during the meeting 3. Annotated Agenda Day One: Thursday, 7 July 2011 Venue: UN Vienna International Centre, Conference Room M7 9:00 09:30 Registration of participating experts will take place outside the meeting room. 09:30 10:00 Opening Session: Welcoming Remarks and Introduction to the Expert Group Meeting. UNDESA staff will make some introductory remarks explaining the nature of the meeting, its objectives, as well as procedural and organizational matters. Mr. Roberto VILLARREAL, Chief, Development Management Branch, Division for Public Administration and Development Management Ms. Jo DEDEYNE-AMANN, UNODC Ms. Anni HAATAJA, Associate Expert, Development Management Branch, Division for Public Administration and Development Management 10:00-11:00 Session 1: Accountability and prevention of corruption in the provision of public services: Part one: Concepts and terminology. 2

3 This first round of discussions will be devoted to assess the relevance of accountability and corruption eradication in the delivery of public services. The notions of accountability and eradication of corruption will be addressed, given ongoing transformations in the public sector and in the social, economic and political conditions observed in a variety of countries. Experts will deliberate to appraise the advantages and disadvantages perceived a priori about the engagement of citizens to enhance accountability and eradicate corruption in the delivery of public services. Lastly, the session will serve to establish a common basic vocabulary for the meeting Mr. Jalal ABDEL-LATIF (UNECA) Mr. Enrique PERUZZOTTI (Argentina) Ms. Meredith EDWARDS (Australia) Mr. Tero ERKKILÄ (Finland) 11:00-11:30 Coffee break. 11:30-13:00 Session 1: Accountability and prevention of corruption in the provision of public services: Part two: Scope of analysis and rationales. The session will continue in this second part, to discuss how public strategies to enhance accountability and prevent corruption regarding public services may be interrelated. Experts will deliberate on the advantages and disadvantages that may be perceived about the engagement of citizens to these aims. They will also debate to what extent attention should concentrate on the inter-phase between service deliverers and citizens-consumers, or should also encompass related activities upstream in the production of services to include budgetary issues, procurement, recruitment and other aspects. Experts will also deliberate on how are the boundaries of public accountability when the provision of public services is done through private providers or civil society organizations, as well as in cases where public providers are over-regulated or under-budgeted by other entities in the public sector. Discussions will also encompass how policies on transparency and rights to access information of the public administration relate to strategies for the promotion of accountability and against corruption. A wider discussion on what people may request as a satisfactory supply of public services will also take place, considering policies for accountability and eradication of corruption in that wider perspective. 3

4 Ms. Angela CAPATI-CARUSO (UNDESA) Ms. Ria BROWERS (Netherlands) Mr. Oluajo BABATUNDE (Nigeria) Ms. Krista NADAKAVUKAREN (Switzerland) Mr. Robert SATTLER (INTOSAI) Mrs. Karen SIRKER (World Bank) 13:00-14:30 Lunch break. Every expert is free to make own arrangements. 14:30-16:00 Session 2: Practices and institutions that engage citizens to enhance accountability and prevent corruption in public service delivery. Part one: Initiatives from citizens and civil society organizations. Experts will discuss relevant experiences initiated citizens or civil society organizations, in which these become engaged to enhance accountability and eradicate corruption in public services. Experts will refer to examples from different countries, to highlight in an analytical way: the context in which those initiatives took place; the aims of the leading actors; the ways and stages in which these initiatives were put into practice; the challenges and opportunities faced along the way; and their positive and negative outcomes. Mr.Roberto VILLARREAL (UNDESA) Mr. Mario CLAASEN (South Africa) Ms. Melissa LAWSON (UK) Mr. Colin ADAMS (UK) Mr. Angelos GIANNAKOPOULOS (Germany) Ms. Angelita GREGORIO-MEDEL (ANSA- EAP) 16:00-16:30 Coffee break. 16:30-18:00 Session 2: Practices and institutions that engage citizens to enhance accountability and prevent corruption in public service delivery. Part two: Initiatives from government. 4

5 In this second part of the session, experts will continue the discussion of the first part along similar lines, but focusing on experiences initiated by governments. Experts will refer to examples from different countries, to highlight in an analytical way: the context in which those initiatives took place; the aims of the leading actors; the ways and stages in which these initiatives were put into practice; the challenges and opportunities faced along the way; and their positive and negative outcomes. Attention will be given to the principles, norms, instruments, procedures and enforcement measures adopted by governments in this regard, including also the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). It is expected that experts will revisit a variety of tools used by the public administration to incorporate the views and assessments of citizens about public services, and to effectively translate the information obtained from citizens-consumers into improvements in the those services. Experts will also deliberate on the strategic aspects of initiating these initiatives as practices circumscribed to one particular public service or organization, or to proceed in a crosscutting way encompassing the entire, and will as well debate on the convenience of getting started in an experimental manners as ad hoc practices or rather by taking a more formal route on institutionalization. EAP) Ms. Angelita GREGORIO-MEDEL (ANSA- Ms. Pamela NIILUS (Argentina) Mr. Mario VINICIUS CLAUSSEN (Brazil) Mr. Alberto PRECHT (Chile) Mr. Emmanuel LUBEMBE (Kenya) Mr. Joel SALAS (Mexico) Mr. Angel SAZ-CARRANZA (Spain) Day Two: Friday, 8 July 2011 Venue: UN Vienna International Centre, Conference Room M7 9:30-11:00 Session 2: Practices and institutions that engage citizens to enhance accountability and prevent corruption in public service delivery. Part three: Getting a win-win case for citizens and government. In this third and last part of the session, experts will combine the analyses from the first two parts and deliberate on how can both governments and citizens articulate their strategies to enhance 5

6 accountability and prevent corruption in public services. Discussions will address how countries can assess the usefulness and viability of engaging citizens to improve public services. Also, deliberations will encompass aspects of strategy to elucidate which series of steps need to be taken on both the sides of government and civil society, regarding commitment, promotion, systematic engagement, organization, dialogue, negotiation about rules and procedures, implementation, and continuous improvement of participatory practices and institutions to enhance accountability and prevent corruption in public services. Mr. Anisuzzaman CHOWDURY (UNDESA) Mr. Roberto VILLARREAL (UNDESA) Mr. Fletcher TEMBO (Malawi) Ms. Taryn VIAN (United States) Mr. Mike ROWE (UK) Mr. Marco DAGLIO (OECD) 11:00-11:30 Coffee break 11:30-13:00 Session 3: Public policy and strategy. Part one: Building capacities Experts will deliberate on the capacities that are needed in terms of human resources and organization, within government and the deliverers of public services, as well as among citizens and civil society, so that the engagement of citizens can be effective for enhancing accountability and eradicating corruption in the delivery of public services. Regarding human resources, the experts will discuss on ethical values, practical gains, risks and costs derived from participating in these efforts, information management, analytical skills, and capacities for negotiation and conflict solving, among other capacities. The discussion will also encompass aspects of organization within the public sector, to elucidate how different entities intervene, including traditional agencies for auditing, inspections and evaluation of public management and performance, as well as the deliverers of public services properly and possibly other entities to conduct, oversee and enforce innovative practices about the engagement of citizens to the aims under consideration. Experts will also discuss on how citizens may find it appropriate to organize themselves to effectively enhance accountability and eradicate corruption in the provision of public services. Ms. Meredith EDWARDS (Australia) 6

7 Ms. Pamela NIILUS (Argentina) Mr. Mario CLAASEN (South Africa) Ms. Susanne SCHWARTZ (INTOSAI) Ms. Angela CAPATI-CARUSO (UNDESA) 13:00-14:30 Lunch break. Every expert is free to make own arrangements. 14:30-16:00 Session 3: Public policy and strategy. Part two: Creating enabling conditions In this second part of the session, experts will discuss on the general conditions that may be called for the success of participatory approaches to improve public services through strengthening accountability and eradicating corruption. Experts will deliberate on the legislation to recognize and protect the rights of citizens and consumers of public services, including social rights regarding education, health, social protection and others, besides fundamental rights of petition, expression, association, etc. Also, discussions will include legislation on obligations of public entities and providers of public services, including codes of conduct, service standards, transparency, management of petitions and grievances, and others. Similarly, other legal matters will be debated, including the criminalization of corrupt acts, disclosure of assets of public officers, protection of whistle-blowers, etc. Deliberations will cover as well aspects of decentralization of relevant functions regarding public service delivery, from central to local governments. Experts will also refer to the roles of traditional information media and new social media. Mr. Mario CLAASEN (South Africa) Mr. Enrique PERUZZOTTI (Argentina) Mr. Don LENIHAN (Canada) Ms. Karen SIRKER (World Bank) Mr. Dirk TANZLER (Germany) 16:00-16:30 Coffee break. 16:30-17:30 Session 4: International cooperation. In this last session, experts will address how the efforts and activities of both governments and civil society within countries may be facilitated by international cooperation. Discussions will 7

8 include issues about sharing of knowledge, replication and adaptation of good practices, preparation of guidelines and toolkits, technical assistance, shared programs for capacity building, etc. The experts will also discuss how international organizations can assist development stakeholders to advance towards more effective methods to enhance accountability and prevent corruption. Mr. Emmanuel LUBEMBE (Kenya) Ms. Angelita GREGORIO-MEDEL (ANSA- EAP) Ms. Karen SIRKER (World Bank) Mr. Enrico BISOGNO (UNODC) Mr. Jeffrey BAWA (UNODC) Mr. Jalal ABDEL-LATIF (UNECA) 17:30-17:55 Closing session Experts will comment on issues that may need further analysis and suggest ways to advance after the meeting in the exchange of relevant knowledge. The Chairperson of the meeting will highlight the most important issues discussed along the two days of deliberation, and outline the main conclusions and recommendations from the meeting. 17:55-18:00 UNDESA staff will make some final remarks on the report that will be prepared to document the collective discussions, and the conclusions and recommendations of the meeting. Mr. Roberto VILLARREAL, Chief, Development Management Branch, Division for Public Administration and Development Management Ms. Jo DEDEYNE-AMANN, UNODC Ms. Peride BLIND, Development Management Branch, Division for Public Administration and Development Management. Ms. Anni HAATAJA, Associate Expert, Development Management Branch, Division for Public Administration and Development Management. 8