Transfer and adaptation of innovative practices for improved public service delivery in LDCs. Expert Group Meeting. New York, United States of America

Transcription

1 Transfer and adaptation of innovative practices for improved public service delivery in LDCs Expert Group Meeting New York, United States of America February 2013 Aide-Memoire 1

2 A. Background and Rationale 1. The access to and quality of public service delivery is critical to the development of any country, including in the context of implementing, the Internationally Agreed Development Goals (IADGs), particularly the MDGs. Global, regional and national commitments to sustainable development and poverty reduction require that all citizens, men and women, have equal access to quality services, including health, education, water, sanitation, shelter, and other basic services. It is Governments who are entrusted with the responsibility to deliver quality services equitably. If they lack the capacity to do so, the attainment of the MDGs, especially in the LDCs, is unlikely. 2. While some of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are witnessing noticeable growth rates, others are being left behind, with high poverty rates and lack of access to basic services. In a number of LDCs, there are persistent inequities in the delivery of public goods and social services, financial services for the poor and legal empowerment, including property and labor rights 1. One of the major challenges in LDCs is that public sector institutions lack the capacity to deliver services in an effective, equitable and citizen-centric way. This state of affairs can largely be attributed to limited institutional and human capacities at the local levels to plan, coordinate, implement and monitor the delivery of services. 3. To ensure greater and more equitable access to quality services, in an innovative, transparent and inclusive manner, LDCs need to strengthen their institutional and human capacities, particularly at the local level, to manage, implement, monitor, and evaluate the delivery of services. In its resolution A/RES/65/280, the General Assembly endorsed the Istanbul Declaration on Renewed and strengthened global partnership for the development of least developed countries and the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade The resolution encourages, inter alia, further progress in providing access to essential services such as education, health, water and sanitation, and shelter. Within this framework, least developed countries commit to continue reforming institutional, legal and regulatory frameworks and the public sector to increase the efficiency and the transparency of service delivery, including the fight against corruption. In broader policy context, in its resolution 57/277, the General Assembly reiterated that particular emphasis should be given to the exchange of experiences related to the role of public administration in the implementation of internationally agreed goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration. 4. A number of developing and developed countries designed and implemented innovative practices in service delivery in the areas of health, water management, education, which have been documented by the United Nations Public Service Awards Programme (UNPSA), managed by UNDESA, in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN-Women). Promoting transfer and adaptation of these innovative practices is a central component of UNDESA s strategy to provide LDCs with a range of possible solutions to their service delivery challenges. 5. Learning and adapting successful initiatives from other countries experiences can considerably save resources and time, inspire new reforms, and in some cases help countries to leapfrog stages of development. UNPSA has proved to be a useful 1 United Nations Ministerial Conference on Least Developed Countries, Making Globalization work for the LDCs, Istanbul, 9-11 July 2007, Issues Paper, UNDP. 2

3 framework for disseminating information about innovations in government, and most importantly, helping transform such information into knowledge for finding effective solutions to governance problems. UNDESA has thus formulated a development project to serve as a vehicle for the transfer and adaptation of innovative practices to address governance challenges in LDCs and enhance the capacity of public servants particularly at the local level. 6. This year, in February, UNDESA will organise an Expert Group Meeting on Transfer and adaptation of innovative practices for improved public service delivery in LDCs. B. Main Objectives of the Expert Group Meeting 7. It will take capable leadership and public servants to strengthen public administration capacity in local governments. The Expert Group Meeting is organized at the outset of the Project with the aim to discover, define and suggest the implementation strategy thus paving the way for effective and smooth implementation of the Project. The EGM will also identify specific MDGs-related areas of service delivery and discuss the best ways to bring innovative solutions designed and implemented by source Governments to governance problems of the Governments and local authorities that are looking to adapt such solutions in the same or similar areas 8. The experts will be selected among regional and national awards programmes that have successfully transferred good practices, as well as from policy-oriented academic programmes, and selected government officials who have taken part in knowledge transfers. It should also include experts from civil society groups that conduct social audits of public services. C. Specific Objectives (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) To identify focus areas of service delivery in which adaptation of best practices will be facilitated. To define the criteria and methodology for both selecting the good practices to be adapted, as well as the countries that will adapt the good practices. To propose recommendations to DPADM/DESA on how best awareness can be increased for Governments to utilize the innovative practices to improve the quality and equitable access of public services, including those nominated for the UNPSA. To further conceptualize the methodology and outputs for workshops scheduled within the development account project on Strengthening capacities of the public sector in least developed countries to deliver quality services equitably through the transfer and adaptation of innovative practices To propose a methodology of calling for nominations and evaluations for the Special Award for Promoting Adaptation of Innovative Practices through Peerto-Peer Partnerships D. Thematic Content of the AEGM 9. The transfer of authority and responsibility of public functions from central governments to local governments is a noble concept which broadens participation of citizens in decision making. Decentralization enables communities to play an active role in 3

4 democracy and setting development agendas that are responsive to their needs. Where it works effectively, decentralization streamlines decision making processes which are typically characterized by bottlenecks caused by central government bureaucratic planning and implementation. In the last few decades, decentralization has especially gained prominence as an expressed goal or as an actual programmatic pursuit for improving public service delivery affecting and enhancing citizen participation. 10. While governments in Africa and Asia have clearly demonstrated the will to decentralize through well articulated decentralization policies and in most cases, actual establishment of local governments for provision of public service delivery at local level, one cannot claim that such commitment has yielded the intended results. The picture is even grimmer in LDCs, which have significantly fewer resources to ensure sustained improvements in service delivery. 11. Despite several initiatives launched to improve the functioning of the public sector, l ittle progress has been made in LDCs in terms of efficient, equitable, transparent and responsive service delivery, particularly in the areas of education, health and water. Some empirical studies indicate that although the share of government budgets and international aid diverted to these sectors is increasing annually, the resulting improvement in service provision is negligible. Most public service systems are inefficient, underutilized, unaffordable and inaccessible to vulnerable and marginalized populations, in particular women, and individuals living in poverty and rural areas. Problems such as overcrowded classrooms, a lack of adequate furniture and facilities, educational materials and under-trained teachers in the educational sphere, and a lack of medicines and drugs, diagnostic and medical equipment and health staff in the health sphere, are just some of the constraints that development planners encounter. 2 In addition, women face particular obstacles due to their societal roles as care givers to children and the elderly. This is particularly true if they are poor, because women are often less able to replace inadequate public provision by paying fees for better services provided privately, as in the case of health care. Thus, public authorities have a crucial role in ensuring that the service delivery needs of women are met as the latter represent the majority of those who access and use public services. 12. In many LDCs, the delivery of services has not been effective and responsive to the needs of citizens because of (a) weak leadership and human resources capacity; (b) weak decentralized institutions, (c) lack of public administration processes and mechanisms that allow for the participation of citizens in determining priority areas, allocation of funds, as well as design and delivery of services 3, and (d) lack of an organizational culture that promotes innovation and creative ways of delivering services with limited resources. Limited interventions to address these challenges put local governance actors in a perpetual lack of capacity and significantly impair their ability to efficiently deliver on the mandates given to them. 2 Decentralization, Service Delivery and the Rehovot Approach To Integrated Development, Michael Gorelik, Page 1, A number of innovative practices have been documented by DPADM, including in the areas of integrating health services like in Zambia; creating innovative administrative support to clinics to improve the tuberculosis rate in South Africa; reducing patient waiting time by integrating medical services through a one-stop-shop in Botswana; bringing health services to remote rural areas through the Phelophepa Health care train; promoting family planning and empowering women through health and reproductive education in Jordan; providing access to drinking water by engaging citizens in water management in India or Morocco; empowering local communities to manage essential social services in India; empowering people to alleviate poverty through participatory decision-making in Rwanda. These practices have been awarded the United Nations Public Service Award. 4

5 13. In order for least developed countries to provide key public services in an efficient and equitable way and therefore to achieve the MDGs at the national, local and sub-national levels, the capacity of the public sector to deliver services must be strengthened. This implies strengthening four major and inter-twined dimensions of the public sector, namely: (i) the institutions, particularly at the local level, to deliver services; (ii) the leadership and human resources capacities needed to deliver services in a transparent, equitable, efficient and accountable manner; (iii) the processes and mechanisms that favour the participation of citizens in the design and delivery of services; and (iv) the organizational culture so that it may be conducive for continuous improvement and innovation in service delivery. 14. Transferring innovations and successful practices to LDCs will provide solutions that have already been tried and have succeeded in addressing similar governance challenges in other countries. The transfer of an innovation may be described as a structured learning process based on knowledge derived from experience coupled with human expertise capable of transforming that knowledge into social action 4. There is evidence that a good practice is transferable when it is generic, adds value and involves simple processes, quick wins, is cost-effective, addresses an expressed or felt need among replicators and is effective. That is to say, if others have the same problem and the innovation has the potential to be useful, then it is transferable. Thus, transferability implies matching demand with supply for knowledge, expertise and experience. Documenting successful practices through case studies is crucial in order to raise the awareness among different governments, and different levels of government within a country, about the existing innovations. 15. The following questions need to be answered if LDCs are to overcome these challenges and truly provide their people with decent standards of living: o What capacities are critical for local governments to effectively deliver on their mandates and build resilient local economies that are capable of providing decent living standards for their people? o What successful initiatives implemented elsewhere can be adapted and what lessons learned can be utilized to improve public service delivery in some countries? o What are the main obstacles encountered in transferring and adapting best practices at country or institutional levels and how can these be overcome? o What implementation frameworks can be espoused to facilitate this adaptation? o Who plays a lead role in ensuring that such measures receive the attention and resources they deserve for implementation? E. Expected Outcome 16. The meeting will make proposals and recommendations on the type of cadres that are needed to strengthen public administration capacity in local governments. In particular, the EGM will result in identification of specific MDGs-related areas of service delivery and the best ways to bring innovative solutions to governance problems through intraand inter-governmental cooperation. This meeting will serve as a backdrop of other activities that will be implemented in UNDESA s development account project on Strengthening capacities of the public sector in least developed countries to deliver 4 See the UN-HABITAT best practices web-site at: 5

6 quality services equitably through the transfer and adaptation of innovative practices and provide UNDESA with an excellent opportunity for increasing awareness of the need to adapt successful governance practices to save resources for Governments in their efforts to enhance the quality and equitable access to public services for their citizens. The working papers and reports prepared for and in the context of the expert group meeting will contribute to on-line training programmes on the transfer and adoption of best practices in service delivery and this will further give increased visibility to the United Nations Public Service Awards which is one of UNDESA s flagship programmes. F. Organizers, Targeted Group and Resource Persons 17. The experts will be selected among regional and national awards programmes that have successfully transferred good practices, as well as from policy-oriented academic programmes, and selected government officials who have taken part in knowledge transfers. It should also include experts from civil society groups that conduct social audits of public services. The composition of the EGM should strive for gender balance. Including both experts and practitioners into the EGM will enhance the likelihood of acceptance and implementation of the recommendations for knowledge transfer involved Governments and local authorities. It is expected to have some fifteen experts/practitioners from various regions of the world. The project will fund participation of about half of the expected participants, as another half will self-fund its participation. G. Languages The Expert Meeting will be conducted in English. H. Venue and Dates The meeting will take place in New York, United States of America from 25 to 27 February I. Contact Address For further information contact the following: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) (i) Dr. John-Mary Kauzya Chief of Public Administration Capacity Branch Division for Public Administration and Development management Department of Economic and Social Affairs Tel.: Fax: kauzya@un.org (ii) Mr. Gary Manukyan Governance and Public Administration Officer Division for Public Administration and Development Management Department of Economic and Social Affairs Phone:

7 Fax: manukyan@un.org (iii) (iv) (v) Ms. Sirkka Nghilundilua Associate Public Administration and Governance Officer Division for Public Administration and Development Management Department of Economic and Social Affairs Phone: Fax: nghilundilua@un.org Ms. Flor Velazco-Juarez Technical Cooperation assistant Public Administration Capacity Branch/DPADM United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA Phone: Fax: E mail: velazco-juarez@un.org Ms. Tiblet Kelemwork Programme Assistant Public Administration Capacity Branch/DPADM United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA Phone kelemwork@un.org 7