ENGAGING CITIZENS IN DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT AND PUBLIC GOVERNANCE FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Transcription

1 Workshop Report ENGAGING CITIZENS IN DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT AND PUBLIC GOVERNANCE FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS Barcelona, Spain June UNITED NATIONS DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS

2 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals DESA The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and its predecessors have helped countries around the world meet their economic, social and environmental challenges for more than 50 years. DESA s mission - to promote development for all - reflects a fundamental concern for equity and equality in countries large and small, developed and developing. Within the framework of the United Nations Development Agenda, DESA works on issues ranging from poverty reduction, population, gender equality and indigenous rights to macroeconomic policy, development finance, public sector innovation, forest policy, climate change and sustainable development. The Department also supports the effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, a set of time-bound targets, which put the eradication of poverty at the centre of the global partnership for development. At the United Nations, DESA provides the substantive support to intergovernmental processes on development issues in the General Assembly and in the Economic and Social Council, its functional commissions and expert bodies. DESA engages with a variety of stakeholders around the world, including non-governmental organizations, civil society, the private sector, research and academic organizations and intergovernmental organizations, as well as our partner organizations in the United Nations system. DESA: Analyzes, generates and compiles a wide range of data and information on development issues. Brings together the international community to address economic and social challenges at conferences and summits. Supports the formulation of development policies, global standards and norms. Monitors and supports the implementation of international agreements. Assists nation states address their development challenges through engaging in a variety of capacity development initiatives. DPADM The Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) is one of the nine specialized divisions DESA. DPADM contributes to the overall aim of DESA of fostering development for all through analytical work, knowledge sharing, technical assistance and training, on contemporary issues of public administration and development management, directed at different levels of government and at interested development actors in the private, social and citizens sectors. The work of DPADM encompasses a variety of topics grouped in three major areas: 1) institution building and human resource development; 2) e-government and knowledge management; and 3) engagement of non-state actors to enhance development management. 2

3 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Acknowledgements: The report was prepared under the direction and overall supervision of Roberto Villarreal, Chief of the Development Management Branch (DMB/DPADM/UNDESA). Consultants Beatriz Sanz Corella and Pamela Niilus served as the principal authors of the report and were supported with substantial and editorial inputs by Anni Haataja, Associate Expert, (DMB/DPADM/UNDESA), the Principal Coordinator of the report. Editorial assistance was provided by Hyunjung Kim, Intern at the DMB. The workshop report team would like to acknowledge all the presenters and participants of the workshop for their presentations, comments, discussion and recommendations during the workshop, and especially the contributions of the following UN Committee of Experts of Public Administration (CEPA) members who presented in the Workshop: Francisco Longo Martinez, Marta Oyhanarte, Mikhail Dmitriev, Peter Anyang Nyong o and Hyam Nashash. 3

4 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Index Introduction to the Workshop Background 6 Goal and objectives of the Workshop 7 Structure and themes of the Workshop..8 Participants 9 Opening remarks Framework of the work of the UN on citizen engagement for development Management, Dr. Roberto Villarreal.10 Perspectives on citizen engagement, Mr. Miquel Angel Essomba 11 Open discussion.12 Introduction to the Workshop, Ms. Anni Haataja..13 Session I: Approaches, trends and challenges in citizen engagement for development management and public governance Challenges in collaborative governance, Dr. Angel Saz Carrenzan and Dr. Francisco Longo Martinez..14 Democracy and social inclusion, Dr. Joaquim Brugué..15 Open discussion..16 Session II: Methodologies and tools for citizen engagement in development management and public governance Perspectives on citizen engagement in Barcelona, Mr. Ricard Goma...17 Building trust: Methodologies and tools of citizen engagement in local development, Ms. Marta Oyhanarte..18 Interactive planning in Russia as a framework for citizen engagement in Development management, Mr. Mikhail Dmitriev.20 Governance and local development: Citizens monitoring of Millennium Development Goals at the local level, Mr. Jordi Llopart.22 Open discussion..23 Session III: Innovations, best practices and uses of ICT for citizen engagement in development management and public governance Citizen engagement in public health services, Hon. Peter Anyang Nyong o..24 Towards human governance in public administration through quality of education, Dr. Hyam Nashash 26 ICT development for gender equality in Asia and the Pacific, Ms. Ji Hyung Yu 27 How leadership in digital networks can accelerate civic engagement to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, Ms. Julia Andrade Ramalho-Pinto...29 Open discussion Session III (cont.): Best practices in citizen engagement Presentations by the winners of the UN Public Service Awards: New management approach to parliamentary elections (Lebanon), Hon. Ziyad Baroud.31 Association for Guarding the Environmental Protection Area of Pratigi (Brazil), Mr. Maurício José Soares de Medeiro...32 Ragazzi in aula Youth in the law hall (Italy), Ms. Daniela Bartoli...34 Collaborative testing (Japan), Mr. Haruji Kuroiwa...36 Special session: From thought to practice, getting things done: New initiatives on promoting ICT-based citizen engagement WebCitizen (Brazil), Mr. André Blas

5 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Somos Más (Colombia), Mr. Nicolás Martín...40 Victeams (Venezuela), Mr. Saul Lustgarten...41 Collabforge (Australia), Dr. Mark Elliot...43 Open discussion...44 Which way forward: Outcomes of roundtable discussions on lessons learnt...45 Conclusions and recommendations...49 Appendixes I. Workshop programme...52 II. Barcelona Declaration...57 III. List of participants...61 IV. Workshop papers

6 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Background Citizen engagement has proven to be an important avenue to foster development by promoting transparency and accountability of public administration, enriching public policies with people s views and enhancing people s ownership of public policies, as well as empowering the poor and the most vulnerable groups of people. Today there is a growing recognition that different forms of active participation of citizens have an important role to play in social and economic development in general, and in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in particular. It has been demonstrated that citizen engagement can bring tangible results in the fight against poverty and hunger, enhancing sustainable development, promoting gender equality, fighting disease and in other priority development areas. At the same time, there is a need to bridge the gap between the rhetorical commitments on citizen engagement and actual participation leading to concrete results that benefit development for all, especially the most vulnerable groups. As the value and the benefits of citizen engagement for development are becoming more widely recognized, the key question becomes how to initiate, sustain and build capacities for it. For this reason it is crucial to strengthen the capacity of public administrators as well as representatives of the civil society to initiate and implement successful and sustainable forms of citizen engagement in development management and public governance. While there are no one size fits all solutions, it is important to share experiences of successful approaches, strategies and best practices of citizen engagement. For this purpose, the Development Management Branch (DMB) of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DPADM/DESA) 1 organized an international workshop on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in Barcelona on of June The Workshop was held in connection with the United Nations Public Service Day Awards Ceremony and Forum 2010 on the theme of The Role of Public Service in Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Challenges and Best Practices, and organized in collaboration with the host of the Public Service Day, the Government of Catalonia, Spain. Besides participating in the workshop participants were invited to take part in the Public Service Forum sessions, including a Special Panel on Citizen Engagement in Europe and Spain organized by the Directorate General for Participation of the Government of 1 The Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) under the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) encourages collective action to foster worldwide development with a focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by promoting citizen engagement at national and local levels and in public affairs in general, as well as in the private sector and in civil society. A special focus in DPADM s work is placed on global knowledge sharing among government officials, civil society, academia and the private sector on forms of citizen engagement that have proven viable and useful for the achievement of the MDGs, as well as on constraints observed. To further enhance knowledge sharing on public administration and citizens engagement, DPADM is in the process of building an online knowledge base on public administration and citizen engagement, known as the United Nations Country Studies on Public Administration (UNPACS).. 6

7 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Catalonia and a Ministerial Roundtable on Promoting Innovation in Government. Participants of the workshop also had the unique opportunity to hear presentations by the Winners of the UNPSA 2010 in the Citizen Engagement category as part of the workshop. Introduction to the Workshop Goal and objectives of the workshop The goal of the workshop was to address policies, strategies, practices and tools for public administrations to promote citizen engagement in development management, with a particular focus on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Within this goal, the purpose of the workshop was to enhance the knowledge and build shared understanding among participants on the ways to enhance citizen engagement in different stages of development management (policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation), with a view of promoting inclusive social and economic development and taking into account the needs of the most vulnerable groups of people. With equal importance, the workshop served as a platform for networking among participants contributing to subsequent global knowledge sharing on citizen engagement in development management, including through an online knowledge base on public administration and citizen engagement under construction by DPADM, known as the UN Public Administration Country Studies (UNPACS). In terms of specific objectives 2, the workshop aimed to: i. Strengthen the participants capacity on policy and program formulation and implementation on citizen engagement to achieve the MDGs, by assessing the needs and priorities in development management and public governance policies and programs, at local and national levels, from a citizen engagement perspective; ii. Provide participants with conceptual frameworks, strategies and tools to engage citizens in development management and in strategy and policy making (planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation), including the use of ICT tools; iii. Identify and share best practices and lessons learnt in citizen engagement in development management and public governance, including through the presentations of the 2010 UNPSA Winners in the category of citizen engagement, as well obstacles and key challenges; iv. Create and strengthen South-South and South-North networks of experts and 2 The goals, objectives and structure of the Workshop were presented by Ms. Anni Haataja, Associate Expert at the Development Management Branch (DPADM/DESA) in the opening session. 7

8 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals practitioners in development management and public governance to enhance participatory practices around the world, as well as to cooperate with DPADM in the population of UNPACS, the online knowledge base on public administration and citizens engagement; v. Identify needs and opportunities for new technical cooperation project funding proposals on citizens engagement in development management; vi. Identify needs and opportunities for research proposals on citizen engagement in development management; Structure and themes of the Workshop During the workshop citizen engagement experts and practitioners presented and participated in panel discussions on policies, strategies, best practices and tools to promote citizen engagement in development management and public governance. With equal importance, ample time was provided for discussions with all the participants and smaller group discussions on innovative approaches, methodologies and tools on citizen engagement. (From left) Dr. Mikhail Dmitriev (President, Centre for Strategic Research, Moscow, Russia, Member of the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration), Ms. Marta Oyhanarte (President, Poder Ciudadano, Buenos Aires, Argentina, of the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration), Dr. Leonid Limonov (Director General, Leontief Centre, Moscow, Russia), Mr. Jordi Llopart (United Nations Development Programme)), and Ms. Anni Haataja (Associate Expert, DMB, UNDESA). Three themes were discussed throughout the workshop 3 : i. Approaches, Trends and Challenges in Citizen Engagement for Development Management and Public Governance 3 A complete programme is included in Appendix I 8

9 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals ii. Methodologies and Tools for Citizen Engagement in Development Management and Public Governance iii. Innovations, Best Practices and Uses of ICT for Citizen Engagement in Development Management and Governance After the plenary sessions the participants formed three separate roundtable groups for in-depth discussion and brainstorming on the respective themes of the plenary sessions. Engagement of women and the most vulnerable groups of people were discussed in each working group as crosscutting themes. A jointly selected drafting committee with representatives from each working group then met to prepare workshop recommendations presented as part of the Barcelona Declaration at the Public Service Awards 4. (From left) Dr... Hyam Nashash (Professor, Al-Balqa University, Amman-Shemesane, Jordan, Member of the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration), Dr. Zuhair Al Kayed, Mr. Hernan Charosky, Mr. Leonid Limonov.. Participants The workshop brought together 82 international experts from 22 countries around the world: senior government and public administration officials, academics, civil society and private sector representatives, as well as United Nations and its network of agencies staff. The breakdown of the participants by region can be seen in the pie-chart below. 4 See Appendix I for the Barcelona Declaration. 9

10 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Summaries of Workshop Presentations Opening Remarks The opening session was chaired by Mr. Jordi Pacheco, Deputy Director for Citizen Participation, Generalitat de Catalunya, who underlined in his introduction the need to shift from politics made by public officers to policies made by people. The Framework of the Work of the United Nations on Citizen Engagement for Development Management After welcoming the participants Dr. Roberto Villarreal, Chief of the Development Management Branch at the Division for Public Administration and Development Management of UNDESA introduced the main theme of the workshop: Engaging citizens in development management and public governance for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals., Dr. Villarreal emphasized that as development, seen as a process carried out by human beings and consisting of building a better human life, encompasses a large range of issues, it is necessary to focus attention and concentrate efforts of relevant actors in a set of fundamental goals. He highlighted that the Millennium Declaration adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2000 and the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and a group of corresponding targets for the year 2015 remain fully valid in every respect. Dr. Villarreal noted that progress towards the MDGs is observable but uneven, and argued that it is necessary to foster additional strategies to invigorate progress towards the MDGs, such as i) more integrated, responsive, capable and accountable organization within the government sector, with national and local levels of government applying their comparative strengths; ii) better involvement of all stakeholders from the public and private sectors, and from civil society by revisiting respective roles and responsibilities, improving coordination and cooperation, and complementing resources (knowledge, labor, capital, leadership, etc.); iii) diverse 10

11 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals uses of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) for information, management and monitoring purposes, as well as for innovative forms of public service delivery, and iv) enhanced forms for delivering and investing international aid and financing. Dr. Villarreal pointed that the workshop was devoted to the second strategy, and contrasted a traditional model of development management with one that incorporates participation and engagement of citizens (in law and policy making and public service delivery). Dr. Villarreal highlighted the difference between participation (as a spontaneous, people-led process to take part in the discussion, analysis and commitment of resources to foster development), and engagement (consisting of strategies defined and promoted by governments to invite the involvement of non-governmental actors in providing information, assessments and proposals for policy formulation, implementation and evaluation). Then, he made a review about different ways of social participation and citizen engagement in public affairs and the effects for people and public administrations in terms of advantages and requisites. ADVANTAGES EFFECTS OF PARTICIPATION AND ENGAGEMENT PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PEOPLE Responsiveness Inclusion Accountability Empowerment Transparency Legitimacy Integral and coherent delivery Enhanced auditing on governments Focus on people resource use, processes and actions, Effectiveness decision making, etc. Efficiency Expansion of citizenship Equity Additional resources Enhanced control over powers granted to governments Better information and knowledge about the public context and challenges for development REQUISITES Rules to conduct engagement in ordered, transparent and fair manners Skills for dialogue, negotiation, consensus building, etc. in public officials Systems or technology for knowledge management Personnel, time, related resources for consultations, communications, etc. Acceptance of rules to be followed for ordered and productive engagement Tolerance of diversity and dissension, willingness to negotiate Skills to address sometimes complex issues or matters of technical nature Time, strong civic values 10 Perspectives on Citizen Engagement Mr. Miquel Angel Essomba, Director of the UNESCO Center of Catalonia, focused in his presentation on the necessity to develop a new citizenship. This concept entails citizens with a capacity to act in the public sphere, in a context determined by complexity, diversity and globalization: complexity as a combination of top-down and bottom-up processes; diversity as tolerance and respect among people and nations and 11

12 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals globalization. In the words of Mr. Essomba, this new citizenship is about the global within the local and the local within the global. Such a strategy must be undertaken by both the national and the local level and also requires public bodies that cultivate a culture of partnerships with civil society, nonprofit organizations and other partners. Mr. Essomba emphasized that social changes only happen when citizens are engaged in all levels of government. Finally, Mr. Essomba noted domains where active citizens could act in order to achieve the MDGs: education for all and gender equality, health issues such as child and maternal health and combating HIV and AIDS, poverty reduction and hunger, and environmental sustainability. Open Discussion Upon completion of the presentations, the Chair opened up the floor to the audience. The issues debated and the remarks made can be summarized as follows: Situations and contexts differ in each country with no one-size fits all solutions. However, exchange of best practices and tools to promote citizen engagement should be encouraged. One needs to be always cautions with the exercise of power and the temptation of not sharing it which can lead to not opening or closing channels of participation. Good intention alone is not enough to promote meaningful citizen engagement for the achievement of the MDGs. There is also a need to change culture, means of production and leaderships. The shift from public-private partnerships to citizen engagement may be viable in developed countries but not in all developing countries where authoritarian features can close channels to participation. A major challenge is to create knowledge-sharing amongst states, as there is a serious capacity deficit of government officials knowledge and skills on citizen engagement. What is the relation between citizen engagement to the disappearance of the state and disappearance of national governance. Dr. Villarreal concluded the discussion by noting that there are new models of government, and that engaging citizens, civil society and private sector stakeholders in public policy making for development is not tantamount to the disappearance or privatization of government led development management. He reminded of the importance of projects that open opportunities for citizen engagement in public affairs 12

13 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in developing countries. There are different realities of power and different conditions where powers develop: in some cases, governments open channels for citizen engagement and in some others citizens create these opportunities (citizen participation). He noted that even though consulting citizens requires time and resources, it is worth it as such processes enhance the legitimacy and efficiency of development policies. Introduction to the Workshop Ms. Anni Haataja, Associate Expert at the Development Management Branch of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management at UNDESA explained the structure and objectives 5 of the workshop before presenting the expected results of the workshop in terms of: Capacities Review and discuss topical issues on citizen engagement for better development management holistically; Explore experiences, learn from best practices, highlight what works; Identify and understand the potential obstacles; Define needs and how to meet them. Global networking South-South and South-North Networks of practitioners and experts in citizen engagement for development management created; Networks to contribute to the global knowledge base, the United Nations Public Administration Country Studies UNPACS ( Global knowledge sharing Workshop report with presentations, interventions, major findings, best practices and recommendations resulting from the workshop; Citizen engagement guidelines for national governments. Immediate influence Recommendations on citizen engagement drafted by the workshop participants included in the Barcelona Declaration and presented before the Ministerial Roundtable at the UNPSA Awards Ceremony. Ms. Haataja made a special reference to the United Nations Public Administration Country Studies (UNPACS) developed by the DPADM ( and encouraged all the participants to contribute to it. 5 The specific objectives of the workshop were already mentioned at page 4. 13

14 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals SESSION I: Approaches, Trends and Challenges in Citizen Engagement for Development Management and Public Governance The first session, chaired by Mr. Jordi Pacheco, Deputy Director for Citizen Participation at the Government of Catalonia, addressed the theme of Approaches Trends and Challenges in Citizen Engagement for Development Management and Public Governance. Challenges in Collaborative Governance After a brief introduction to the session by the Chair, Dr. Angel Saz Carranza, lecturer at ESADEs 6 Institute of Public Governance and Management 7, took the floor to present a case study on collaborative governance, conducted together with Dr. Francisco Longo Martinez 8. The speaker started his presentation by recalling the different forms of governance (conflict; authority; competition and collaborative governance). A more elaborated definition was then made on the notion of collaborative governance, which is understood as: A governing arrangement where one or more public agencies directly engage non-state stakeholders in a collective decision-making process that is formal, consensus-oriented, and deliberative and that aims to make or implement public policy or manage public programs or assets (Ansell and Gash 2008). Dr. Saz Carranza proposed a simplified causal model as a framework to analyze the case-study of the Strategic Agreement to Promote Internationalization of the Catalan Economy, the Strengthening of its Competitiveness and the Quality of Employment. Before an analytical assessment of the Strategic Agreement, a brief review of some of 6 Escuela Superior de Administración y Dirección de Empresas, at the Ramon Llul University in Barcelona, Spain. 7 Dr. Saz Carraza is also Coordinator of ESADE s PARTNERS Program in Public-Private Cooperation and Coordinator of the ESADE Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics. 8 Member of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) and Professor, Department of Human Resources, ESADE Business School, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain. 14

15 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals its key features was provided: (i) the parties of the Strategic Agreement were the Government of Catalonia, two major trade unions and three large business associations, which jointly and consensually defined policies for infrastructure, job creation and training to enhance the competitiveness of Catalonia, thus going beyond traditional market-labour negotiations; (ii) two set of agreements were achieved ( and ); (iii) Approximately 10 different ministries were involved in the negotiations due to the cross-cutting nature of the issues discussed; (iv) it entailed a multilayered governance structure (from an interdepartmental committee to a working committee and 8 working groups) and; (v) strong monitoring and accountability mechanisms were established throughout the implementation phase. Analytical findings drawing on the causal model -, were summarized as follows: (i) Regarding initial conditions, Dr. Saz Carranza referred to the shared diagnosis (common understanding of the problem and of the need to act together and to negotiate); the positive impact of prior relations between the different actors and the genuine will to reach consensus; (ii) As regards the structure, the following issues were highlighted: the need for an initial agreement regarding the issues which shall be taken on board, the respect of basic rules of interaction; the formal decision regarding the actors (who is included and why); the forum exclusivity and the integration of coordination mechanisms within the accountability systems; (iii) in the realm of leadership and behavioural aspects, it was recalled that leadership within government resided in transversal and should be powerful (budget control). The importance of relational capacities and emphatic attitudes were also underlined; (iv) finally, in terms of outcomes, the speaker brought the attention of the participants to a number of relevant issues: Issues resistant to consensus and agreement are those that are dealt with by more than one governmental department and/or are central to all the agents and/or are associated with negative prior experience; There is a need to be careful when agreement is not reached so as to keep doors open and to avoid a bitter end (which could jeopardize other issues); Evidence shows that parties to the process learn and therefore subsequent processes can become more complex, and that subsequent negotiations tend to increase in detail and complexity due to prior conflicts in results evaluation; Finally, there is an inherent difficulty in measuring public outcomes. Democracy and Social Inclusion It was then the turn of Dr Joaquim Brugué, Professor at the Institut de Govern i Polítiques Publiques (UAB 9 ), to present on links between Democracy and Social Inclusion. As an introductory note, Dr Brugué presented his underlying hypothesis that recent changes in social dynamics require a new form of democracy. In the past the overall objective to build a stable and homogenous society was supported by a certain model of democracy (formal and aggregative). However, the past decades have witnessed an explosion in the diversity and complexity of social dynamics, which oblige 9 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain 15

16 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals to reconsider, and even reinvent, the model of democracy and within it, the forms of citizen engagement. Dr. Brugué then outlined three conceptions of social exclusion and characterized the policies required to address them: (i) Social exclusion is understood as a situation of deficiency (both material and relational), which requires reactive policies to decrease the deficits; (ii) social exclusion understood as a risk, which requires both reactive and proactive policies, aimed at promoting human and social capital (namely membership to a community) and; (iii) social exclusion understood as a process, which requires strategic policies that, in their turn, need a strong democracy, wherein citizens have a voice and are heard. According to Dr Brugué, evidence shows that democracy is not yet strong and substantive enough to provide for strategic policies in the fight against social exclusion. Open Discussion Upon completion of the presentations, the Chair opened up the floor to the audience to ask questions to the speakers and react to their presentations. Major issues/ideas/remarks debated can be summarized as follows: Context matters: Citizen engagement initiatives need to be grounded on a specific context. There are no blueprints when it comes to civic engagement. One of the major lessons learnt form the collaborative governance experience is the need to identify issues in which actors are willing to be involved (not all issues can be dealt with collaboratively). As regards involved actors, they need to be legitimate (only then the process has the potential to be genuine) and the interaction should be continuous. Effective citizen engagement requires a number of conditions, as can be drawn from the experience of participatory budgeting in Brazil: (i) There is a need for flatter, more horizontal and more transversal government structures; (ii) citizen engagement is easier to implement at the national level as it is easier to reach consensus on problems and challenges to be addressed and; (iii) a major obstacle are political parties that do not encourage participation; therefore a change in the political culture of political parties is needed. There is a need for a new brand of civil servants, capable of understanding and dealing with citizens engagement. Equity (who participates and on which basis) is a fundamental question, which needs to be factored in all citizen engagement processes. Collaborative governance is both seen as a solution (to address current problems), and a challenge (how to put this principle into practice, in cases where it clashes with the current political and engagement culture of governments, political parties; civil society; etc.). The priority is to bridge down the current gap between the principles and the practice. Countries specificities pose a real challenge in terms of social inclusion. 16

17 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals The economic dimension of social inclusion cannot be neglected when addressing exclusion through strategic policies. Session II: Methodologies and Tools for Citizen Engagement in Development Management and Public Governance Session II focused on Methodologies and Tools for Citizens Engagement in Development Management and Public Governance and was chaired by Dr. Leonid Limonov, Director-Coordinator for Research Programmes, Leontief Centre, Russia. Perspectives on Citizen Engagement in Barcelona The session was introduced by Mr. Ricard Gomá, Deputy Mayor of Barcelona. Mr. Gomá spoke about citizen participation as a style of government in Barcelona and described the three components that build this strategy, linking solidarity values, enhancing welfare and equity. The three-fold citizen participation strategy of Barcelona consists of: i) Council of Social Welfare 10 : A citizen participation channel open to NGOs that work on social issues. It consists of a standing committee that meets monthly and thematic committees with individual work plans. Each group self-manages and presents its annual work plans to the Council. The policy maker responsible for applicable policies at the relevant government agency should incorporate the work plan as an input, and report the progress of the policies approved by the Council once a year. A joint evaluation of the impact of City Hall public policies is carried out every four to six years. 10 Consejo de Bienestar Social. 17

18 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals ii) Citizen Agreement for an Inclusive Barcelona 11 : Consists of a manifesto on the principles of the city to generate social welfare, joined by 450 institutions. It includes rights and responsibilities such as the right to participate in public policies as well as the obligations for the signatories. Participating institutions can choose from two levels of commitment: a basic one (information exchange website) and another one involving networking groups on several topics. Every entity involved is considered as a service provider in public policies implementation. This way public policy implementation space is not monopolized by the government. iii) Community Involvement Plan 12 : A mechanism that operates in the 72 neighborhoods of Barcelona. Community Involvement Plans are platforms for action based on a diagnosis on the needs and potentials of each neighbourhood The economic resources are self-managed by community members that are involved in the development of the community plans. Mr. Gomá noted that this three-fold strategy has been designed to make participation more pluralistic and to articulate demands with more capacity. The Council on Social Welfare has been running for 20 years, the Citizen Agreement for five years and the Community Involvement Plan for 10 years. In the Community Plans, the ability to participate does not go through mediation, it is more experiential. One of the most valued aspects of Community Involvement Plans are that they empower the excluded members of the society to participate in the running of their neighbourhoods and bring different parts of the society together, for example young people to work together with the elderly. Every Community Development Plan has a representative in the City Hall Council of Social Welfare. Building Trust: Methodologies and Tools of Citizen Engagement in Local Development Ms. Marta Oyhanarte, President and Co-founder of Poder Ciudadano, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a member of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration, referred to the process of building trust between governors and governed as the only way to install participation in true sense of civic engagement. This process, if implemented with rigorous methodology and using the adequate tools, improves governability and governance, the essential foundations for reaching the Millennium Development Goals. Ms. Oyhanarte introduced the Argentinian Citizens Audit Program 13 (CAP), a national government initiative developed between 2003 and 2009, which was conducted in more than seventy municipalities with 13 million people (30 per cent of total population). In this programme citizens and their local governments map out jointly the weaknesses and strengths of their community and identify public policies that need to be improved. A Civic Forum brings the community members and decision makers together to discuss 11 Acuerdo Ciudadano para una Barcelona Inclusiva. 12 Plan de Involucramiento Comunitario. 13 More information at 18

19 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and reach consensus on the welfare programmes of the community. This process allows a community to self-evaluate and improve its democratic life and brings political decision-making into the everyday life of the community members. The methodology used in CAP implementation process: Is replicable in other countries due to its local scale and provides an opportunity to adjust parameters, to correct mistakes and to adopt lessons learnt because of its step-by-step design. Unleashes a public debate in communities on the quality of democracy and the values and the challenges the communities face. This experience is educational for both citizens and the policy-makers. Has a real impact on the quality of democratic practices both as a deliberation from the citizens and as a process of social change based on academic rigorousness. Favours and promotes new type of relations between citizens and policy-makers and brings civil society organizations and the private sector into public policy implementation, reducing the monopoly of the local government. Ms. Oyhanarte pointed the elements that made CAP a successful policy: Start from a good idea. Constitute an executing team with skills and passion. Meet relevant stakeholders. Design and follow a rigorous and at the same time flexible methodology. Conduct periodic internal and external evaluations. Apply knowledge management. Build partnerships with other actors. CAP implementation causes a virtuous cycle that changes the civic landscape. The community begins to live out its dreams through changes in the legal framework, plans and programs, new technologies incorporated by the governments into their management, and citizens recognizing that their participation can make a difference, and hence joining initiatives such as: Provincial Constitution reform, incorporating norms about participation. Participative budgets or planning that allows the citizens to participate in funds allocation and in the priority setting of local governments. Palpalá Digital City, a new initiative to create neighborhood digital centers that provide ICT-training for community members, especially the youth. 108 Pergamino Alert, a system to improve citizen security. Transparent Accounts Leaflet, a newsletter distributed to all homes which includes information on the municipal tax rates and an opinion and suggestion form that the citizens can send to their municipality. PerriOca, a board game created by secondary school teachers and pupils to help raise awareness on norms regarding responsible pet ownership. 19

20 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Save your life, a road safety education campaign to reverse the statistics of injuries and loss of lives in road accidents. Finally, Ms. Oyhanarte noted that a public policy aimed at promoting civic engagement, if implemented with rigorous methodology and using the adequate tools, can achieve modification and improvement of the civic landscape. Those communities will surely be better equipped than others on the road to achieving the MDGs. Ms. Marta Oyhanarte presented on methodologies and tools of citizen engagement in local development. She noted on the importance of building trust among different groups. Interactive Planning in Russia as a Framework for Citizen Engagement in Development Management Mr. Mikhail Dimitriev, President of the Centre for Strategic Research in Moscow, Russia and a member of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration, began his presentation by pointing out circumstances that underpin the development of a new concept, interactive planning, in public strategic planning in Russia: i) Russia is the largest country in the world by territory. Spatial allocation and access to infrastructure are key preconditions of economic success, and the costs of spatial misallocation in Russia can be enormous. Comprehensive and innovative long-term coordination framework is essential in addressing these challenges; ii) Russia is a federal state with a complex multi-tier public administration. High risk of policy fragmentation and state capture by various vested interests are always present. Both horizontal and vertical coordination are a challenge. 20

21 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Complexity of coordination and multiplicity of actors require new and innovative approaches; iii) Modern planning practices are not well understood and a long process of capacity building still lies ahead. During the 1990s the transition from a command economy to a market economy in Russia was accompanied by a decline in demand for public policy planning. Unlike China and some of the Former Soviet Union countries, where elements of the command planning system were retained and put to use during transition, in Russia this system had been dismantled almost without a trace during the first years of transition period. Severe economic crisis in the 1990s deferred the formation of a new generation of market-oriented planning institutions. As soon as the post-crisis growth resumed, public interest to planning agenda intensified. The poll data by Levada Center indicated that in 2000, 45 per cent of the Russian population considered the "lack of a comprehensive program of reform" as one of the causes of the problems in implementing democratic and market reforms in Russia. Initially, this emerging demand materialized in numerous uncoordinated initiatives on strategic planning at the federal, regional and municipal levels. The most ambitious of them was a Strategy of Socioeconomic Development of Russia for (Strategy-2010), developed prior to Vladimir Putin s election to the first presidential term. Strategy-2010 manifested a stark contrast of the new era of strategic planning to traditions of the command economy. Strategy-2010 and other initiatives of the 2000s were by and large based on an open-ended consultative process. The preparation of the Strategy-2010 was preceded by broad consultations with the civil society and experts. Mr. Dimitriev introduced the concept of interactive planning, as a framework for citizens engagement which includes the following features: Uniform standards of economic forecasting; Horizontal and vertical coordination; 21

22 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Connectivity between the strategic plans at all levels; Continuous dialogue between the stakeholders; Openness; Flexibility. Then, the speaker pointed out areas which deserve particular attention regarding citizen involvement, namely: Public participation in the state strategic planning at the federal level; Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation; Consultative bodies set up by federal ministries and agencies; Citizen engagement in sectoral policy development; Public participation in the strategic planning at the federal district level in Russia; Public participation in the state strategic planning at the regional level; Citizens engagement in sectoral policy development and implementation at the regional and local levels; Public participation in design and implementation of the municipal programs on social and economic development; Citizens engagement in development of the territorial planning documents. Finally, Mr. Dimitriev stated that in spite of progress and innovation during last decade, citizen engagement is still work in progress in Russia and presented the next agenda for Interactive Planning: Learning from best practices and scaling up; Embedding consultative process into law at federal and regional levels; Capacity building of existing institutions (Civic chambers, ministerial councils, citizens associations etc.); Capacity building in forecasting and planning methodology; Uniform access to information; Horizontal coordination; Feedback and flexibility at implementation stage. Governance and Local Development: Citizen Monitoring of MGDs at the Local Level Mr. Jordi Llopart, from UNDP, highlighted the role of citizens monitoring in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by The speaker stressed the importance of deepening democracy by promoting active citizenship through participatory practices. He proposed a three-fold strategy based on: Active citizenship; Mobile technology (for example citizens reporting on defective public service delivery by text messages); Increasing commitment to good governance at the local level. 22

23 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Citizens, media and advocacy groups can create a buzz around such initiatives, generating awareness as well as building and sustaining pressure for implementation, and follow up actions by the local governance. This strategy can be successful in bringing citizens at the centre stage in the process of achieving the MDGs but is conditioned by two suppositions: democratization of access to new technology and building of individual citizens agency. Open Discussion Upon completion of the presentations, the Chair opened up the floor to the audience. Based on the questions from the participants the speakers completed their presentations with the following inputs: Ms. Oyhanarte explained that CAP conducted internal reviews and external evaluations financed by UNDP. The final reports of each citizen audit were distributed in each community (schools, libraries, NGOs) and can be considered useful sources of civic education in the communities as they reflect the specific strengths and weaknesses of the communities. Mr. Dimitriev said that strategic planning is necessary in Russia as the country has both very rich and poor regions. It is necessary to apply different strategies for dealing with the range of specific challenges in different regions. He also mentioned that in 2010, Russia had the record of poverty reduction ($75 per month per capita) but this reduction was concentrated in some regions. Mr. Llopart stressed the importance of the involvement of the private sector, media and mobile phone providers in order to achieve the MDGs. The poorest and women have increasing access to mobile phones throughout the world. 23

24 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Session III: Innovations, Best Practices and Uses of ICT for Citizen Engagement in Development Management and Public Governance Session III focused on Innovations, Best practices and Uses of ICT for Citizen Engagement. The session was chaired by Ms. Lorena Elvira, Legal Affairs Officer at the Government of Catalonia and comprised of four presentations. (From left) Dr. Hyam Nashash, Hon. Professor Peter Anyang Nyong o (Minister of Medical Services, Kenya, Member of the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration), Ms. Lorena Elvira (Legal Affairs Officer, Government of Catalonia), Ms. Ji Hyung Yu (Associate Expert, UNPOG), and Ms. Anni Haataja. Citizen Engagement in Public Health Services The first speaker to take the floor was Hon. Peter Anyang Nyong o, Minister of Medical services of Kenya 14 who addressed the practice of citizen engagement in the planning, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of public health services in Kenya. The presentation focused on two questions: (i) what is the Kenyan government doing to encourage and institutionalize citizen engagement? and; (ii) how are citizens responding to such government initiatives? Hon. Anyang Nyong o started with a brief presentation of the Kenyan context, and outlined a number of key issues, namely: (i) the changes in citizen engagement resulted from the broader socio-political changes (move from an authoritarian system to a decentralized system, with a district focus for rural/ integrated development), (ii) the severe structural budget constraints (which force the need to mobilize resources to enhance health care), and (iii) the features of the policy framework that have been progressively shaped, resulting in a much more conducive and enabling environment for citizen engagement. 14 Hon. Peter Anyang Nyong o is also member of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) 24

25 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Hon. Anyang Nyong o described the local institutional framework to allow the workshop participants to better understand the rationale and scope of citizen engagement in the delivery of public health services. Key factors highlighted were: the relevance of the district level (the best suited level for citizen engagement in health delivery); the strong presence of private sector and faith-based organizations in the running of the health facilities; and the important funding role of donors and households during the current economic crisis. The speaker then highlighted a number of lessons learnt from citizen engagement processes in Kenya. Major efforts have been made in Kenya to strengthen citizen participation in development, including health provision, through various policies, strategies and programmes. However, the results have been mixed with development interventions being still fairly centralized. In particular, the District Focus for Rural Development failed to make a significant impact due to the politicization of its implementation and failure to anchor in the law. Recent approaches and strategies, such as the devolved funds, are slowly reversing this and have led to increased citizen engagement. The launch of the Community Strategy, the facility based financing approaches (Health Sector Services Fund (HSSF), Hospital Management Services Fund (HMSF)) and broad stakeholder involvement in health provision are also improving citizen engagement. Finally, as the speaker pointed out, it is clear that while decentralization of power and services are necessary to make citizen participation in local governance meaningful, it is not sufficient to ensure real participation or accountability. He also reminded that decentralized administrations, while closer to the population, can be as bureaucratic as centralized administrations. 25

26 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Towards Human Governance in Public Administration through Quality of Education Dr. Hyam Nashash, professor of Educational Administration at Al-Balqa Applied University, Jordan, and member of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) addressed the role of education in the promotion of human governance in public administration. Dr. Nashash started by recalling the definition and indicators 15 of governance and proceeded with a definition of the notions of good governance and human governance. Drawing on the research done by Huq (2001), the speaker highlighted the different and innovative perspective brought about by the notion of human governance, particularly in relation to four central principles of good governance: (i) better quality in public services; (ii) more investment in information and communication technologies (egovernment); (iii) better regulation and; (iv) a fair management and training of human resources. Dr. Nashash then addressed what she deemed to be the central question: Is there really an urge to go beyond governance into human governance and if so, how to do so? According to the speaker, there is no straightforward answer to this question, as: (i) citizens live in different countries with different regimes, which results in unequal realization of needs and demands and; (ii) the main challenge that often confronts countries attempting to undertake governance reforms is not what (what is the problem and what are the remedies for it?) but why (why does the problem persist?) and how (how to manage the often complex process of change that accompanies any 15 These are: (i) Voice and Accountability; (ii) Political Stability and Absence of Violence; (iii) Government Effectiveness; (iv) Regulatory Quality; (v) Rule of Law; (vii) Control of Corruption. 26

27 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals reform). Against this background, quality of education can prove to be a powerful tool. Although relevant in all countries, notwithstanding the different political regimes, education is particularly pertinent in countries where the status of most inhabitants with respect to all individual rights is insecure even where specified by law. ICT Development for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific Ms. Ji-Hyung Yu, Associate Capacity Development Expert at the UN Project Office on Governance (UNPOG) in Seoul, South Korea, addressed the current efforts to mainstream gender perspective in the development and use of ICT in Asia and the Pacific. According to Ms. Ji-Hyung Yu, the mindset that gender issues are of secondary importance, if not superfluous, is unfortunately also reflected in the way governments in Asia and the Pacific region address ICT development policies, further marginalizing women s needs and interests. This reality is in stark contradiction to the principle that gender issues need to be proactively incorporated into development policy frameworks, considering that gender issues cut across all of the eight Millennium Development Goals. There is a need for a new way of thinking which allows for a socially inclusive and equitable development, for both men and women, also in the specific realm of ICT development. The speaker, when describing the current relation between ICT development and gender equality, outlined four major structural limitations which result in a gender digital divide: (i) the lower level of access by women; (ii) women s lower level of ICT 27

28 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals education and training; (iii) the lower level of contents based on women s needs and; (iv) the lower level of decision-making power by women in ICT development. These structural limitations, embedded in the socio-economic structures, cannot be solely addressed with technical measures, but require strong proactive policies to tackle current social relations, values and norms. Against this background, what is required for progress towards a gender-responsive and equitable ICT development is a major transformation in the notions used in ICT and gender frameworks: (i) from women s access to empowerment, and; (ii) from women as consumers/end users to producers/ active participants in the planning, implementation and evaluation of ICT. To this end, several challenges are noteworthy: (i) the need for an active and sustainable political will; (ii) the development of legal and regulatory framework/measures for gender-inclusive ICT programmes and services; (iii) improved collaboration with non-governmental actors (NGOs, private sector, academia); (iv) availability of reliable and comparable quantitative/gender disaggregated data and; (v) the establishment of participatory planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation systems. 28

29 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals How Leadership in Digital Networks Can Accelerate Civic Engagement to Achieve to Millennium Development Goals Ms. Julia Andrade Ramalho-Pinto, Director of Estaçao de Saber, Brazil, spoke about the role of leadership in accelerating civic engagement through digital networks. Ms. Andrade recalled the vast potential of digital networks: We are living a time in which changes occur faster and faster. Being connected has allowed us to be in contact with this transient reality in real time. Being connected may even allow us to interfere with this reality, also in real time, not in a later future. More and more, the delay between what is happening and the social interference will be almost nil. The speaker focused on the use of Twitter, the social networking and micro blogging service, and on its potential to enhance social integration, when used as a mobilization tool. She presented several case studies to support this thesis, such as the case Estaçao do Saber. Case Estação do Saber Every Saturday, in an open arena at Pátio Savassi mall in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, prestigious speakers are invited to talk about the most recent developments and issues in our society and the city.. The audience is heterogeneous and about a hundred people show up every Saturday. The basic idea is to appropriate a consumer space, where citizens come to shop, relax, and get entertainment, so as to induce and provoke the engagement of these individuals in issues concerning our society and city. In this project, Twitter has been used to spread, to further discuss and to engage citizens in the social themes addressed at the events. Even during the very event, we tweet it and thus receive comments and questions through Twitter. During the week that follows, we receive further comments and links to other projects related to the same issues. We have also begun to transmit our event using Ustream. This innovation has allowed more people to watch the debates and interact in real time or through our website. We also advertise the events on other digital networks, such as Facebook, CulturaDigital.Br, and TeiaMG. As a result of the use of Twitter, the access to our website in 2009 rose about 500 per cent, and, in 2010, in the last 4 months it rose about 300 per cent as we posted 15 videos on Ustream. We have also received spontaneous reports, both personally and on the web, on how the project is changing people s minds and how important an open space is for the discussion on relevant social matters. Finally, based on her experience, the speaker presented a number of lessons learnt when using Twitter and other digital networks to foster citizen engagement. Mobilizing and engaging people are competences of a good leader; Mobilization involves good communication skills and relational influence. There is a need to be aware of how people are reacting to words and acts; Being ubiquitous is useful. In addition to Twitter it is highly advisable to use other social and digital networks; Mobilize also through the real world: The digital and the real world are 29

30 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals complementary and the digital world can accelerate developments in the real world; Everything happens very fast in a connected world. There is therefore a need to be well aware of the opportunities and risks of the project; More and more spontaneous leaders are emerging thanks to services such as Twitter. They will be able to mobilize, to spread information and to implement ideas. Open Discussion After the presentations, the Chair opened up the floor for the audience to ask questions to the speakers and react to the presentations. Major issues/ideas/remarks can be summarized as follows: There is a strong connection between democratic governance, sustainable development and equitable redistribution of resources; There is also a strong connection between technology, education and political will. Notwithstanding the consensus on the role of both education and technology as key factors allowing for cultural change, the question of political will cannot be neglected. Political will should be factored in the analysis when assessing cultural change; Greater decentralization doesn't automatically lead to improved citizen engagement but it can enhance it by opening up spaces for more engagement, and bringing government closer to the population. 30

31 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals SESSION III (continuation): Best Practices on Citizen Engagement Session III continued with presentations by the Winners of the UN Public Service Awards 2010, chaired by Mr. Devendra Parsad Ruhee, Chair of the African Community of Practice on Managing for Development Results, Mauritius. Four Winners, from Lebanon, Brazil, Italy and Japan, presented their winning cases on enhancing citizen engagement in public service delivery. New Management Approach to Parliamentary Elections (Lebanon) Hon. Minister Ziyad Baroud, Minister of Interior and Municipalities of Lebanon, presented the new management approach to parliamentary elections in Lebanon. Hon. Minister. Baroud outlined the diverse ICT tools that have been progressively adopted by the government, namely: (i) the elections website which contains information on polling for voters and observers as well as several relevant legal documents. It also offers registration service for voters; (ii) digital fingerprints stations; (iii) results transfer automation to speed up the election results process; (iv) virtual social networking (Facebook, youtube) and ; (v) campaign monitoring (the Electoral Commission was equipped with the latest media and communication technology). The Minister then presented the key success factors of the new management approach: Inclusiveness in decision making was achieved through a number of mechanisms, namely: consultations with internal and external stakeholders; permanent in-house office for the civil campaign for electoral reform; consultations with Lebanese political party representatives and; donor coordination though a periodic forum. 31

32 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Transparency and neutrality were ensured through a number of initiatives: the observers and coordination unit (to ensure observers were duly accredited and observation missions took place); best practice institutionalizing, allowing for lesson learning (for example the clear separation of duties between the administration and security forces; good organization of work flows; etc); the open door policy (which guaranteed an easy access to information); the introduction of new procedures (website publishing of results, standardized pooling booths, adoption of a national ID as voter identification, etc) and; enhanced civil society engagement and regular media relations. Outreach was ensured through a voter media awareness and civic education campaign and improved branding to increase the reliability and legitimacy of the process. Finally, interactivity was promoted through the development of integrated systems to encourage a two-way communication between citizens and the institution. (From left) Mr. Mauricio José Soares de Medeiro (Executive President, Fundacao Oderbrecht, Brazil), H.on Minister Ziyad Baroud, Mr. Devendra Parsad Ruhee, Ms. Daniela Bartoli (Communication and Participation Manager, Council of Region Piedmont, Italy) Mr. Haruji Kurokawa (CIO, Saga Prefectural Government, Japan), and Ms. Anni Haataja. Associação Guardiã da Área de Proteção Ambiental do Pratigi. Bahía Southern Lowlands, Brazil. Mr. Maurício José Soares de Medeiro, Executive Presindent of the Fundação Oderbrecht, Brazil, presented an initiative led by AGIR, Associação Guardiã da Área de Proteção Ambiental do Pratigi (Association for Guarding the Environmental Protection Area of Pratigi). AGIR promotes sustainable development in the Bahia Environmental Protection Area (EPA) and focuses on decent wages, job generation, conservation and preservation of natural assets and the environment. 32

33 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Mr. Soares de Medeiro introduced a video presenting one of the AGIR initiatives: Program for the Integrated and Sustainable Development of the EPA Mosaic in Bahia Southern Lowlands. Echoing the video: Today we live in a complex and constantly changing world. With the objective of ensuring harmony between economic and social issues, respect for life, against all forms of violence, AGIR has developed a grass-root strategy. We believe that the key to achieving the MDGs is in integrating several initiatives to create a new, more sustainable culture of doing things. Not only ready-to-use solutions, we need examples that reveal the process, pointing to the difficulties and showing lessons learnt. Some of the concrete results of the AGIR include programmes such as: New Standards of Quality and Productivity (Hearts-of-Palm Cooperative Alliance) Cooperativist Foundations and Local Development (Cassava Cooperative Alliance) New Production and Processing Technologies (Aqua farmers Cooperative Alliance) Generation of Work Position and Equitable Income Distribution (Piassava Cooperative Alliance) Mobilizing Communities and Grooming Active Leaders (Institute Right and Citizenship, Youth House) Sustainable Tourism and Ethno development (Institute of Development Sustainable of the Bahia Southern Lowlands) Participatory Governance and Environmental Services (Pratigi EPA Guardian Association) Balancing Life Flows (Eco-corridors, Citizenship Park Road, Energy Cooperative Alliance) AGIR has developed an Orchestral Model of Synergic Governance aiming towards integrated sustainable development in special areas, as shown in the figure below: 33

34 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Participatory Governance Mr. Soares de Medeiro reminded that despite successes AGIR is still work-in-progress, with many challenges, regarding resources, training, transfer of knowledge and creating a new culture for thousands of leaders capable of transforming their own environments. The presentation ended with a testimony from a project youth leader Pedrina Belém do Rosário. Ragazzi in aula Youth in the Law Hall (Italy) Ms. Daniela Bartoli, Communication and Participation Manager of Piedmont Regional Council. presented the Italian case of Ragazzi in Aula (Youth in the Law Hall). The Italian Chamber of Deputies started the Ragazzi in Aula project in The purpose of the project is to involve 14 to 18 year-old students in the process of law development, as Council members. In 1998 the Piedmont Regional Council16 took the initiative at the local level, with the following results: ¾ 200 out of the 410 high schools in Piedmont have participated; ¾ Students between 14 to18 years of age have been involved; ¾ More than 500 law-projects have been submitted to the Regional Council. In 2005 all Ragazzi in Aula law-projects were submitted to the Regional Council members with the consequent opportunity that any of the law-projects of the youth could become a real regional law. 16 The Piedmont Regional Council manages the project in agreement with the regional department of the Ministry of Education 34

35 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Main features of the regional experience are: Cost effective (Budget of Euros in 2009, used for travel expenses reimbursement for teachers and students; meals; video and printing costs) Minimal IT support (3 Regional Council staff members) Transferable for any level of government (simple implementation road map, see below) Based on four paramount elements: teachers, students, council employees and council members. The implementation road map can be synthesized as in the figure below: Criteria for projects selection is based on: originality of the theme; in-depth research on the history of the legislation and; analysis capability in the matter. Subjects chosen in 2009 were: Construction of cycle paths on disused railway areas. Grants for hospital solar panels Redevelopment of blighted areas by Guerrilla gardening by citizens. Grants to those who adopt homeless dogs. Ragazzi in Aula has given the opportunity to hundreds of students to meet, exchange ideas and interact with each other while working on their chosen law project topics. According to Ms. Bartoli, students not only were involved, but felt true protagonists of this experience of democracy. 35

36 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Ragazzi in Aula Piedmont Regional Council Collaborative Testing (Japan) Mr. Haruji Kuroiwa, Human Resource Development Administrator presented the Collaborative testing approach adopted by the Saga Prefectural Government in Japan. Collaborative testing can be defined as a new approach to enhance citizens satisfaction level by augmenting and diversifying the actors involved in public services through disclosure and in-depth dialogues and exchanges between the government and emerging public service providers, such as civil society organizations and private companies. This approach assigns the public services to the most capable service providers through proposal-based discussions, thus expanding the public sphere by consolidating overlapping areas where both public and private interests meet, as shown in the figure below. The speaker then presented the key changes prompted by the Collaborative testing approach, which include: 36

37 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Information disclosure: From a conceal in principle, disclose in exceptional cases rule to a disclose in principle, conceal in exceptional cases rule. As a result of the approach, the Saga Prefectural Government discloses over two thousand business line information upfront with the exceptions of law enforcement services and mandatory education. In-depth public-private knowledge sharing as public sector, private sector and civil society organizations are working towards enhancing citizens satisfaction levels. As a result, potential public service providers submitted 582 proposals between 2006 and 2008 on how they can out-perform the public administration from the viewpoint of the service recipients. Strong leadership, challenging conventional decision-making process (i.e. under this approach, if the administration in charge cannot provide clear rational for rejecting a proposal, it will be implemented). Several examples were then presented to illustrate the approach (i.e. the cleaning of the gulf of Imari by civil society organizations; etc) and the speaker ended his presentation by recalling the steps to effectively implement the collaborative governance approach. 37

38 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals From Thought to Practice, Getting Things Done: New Initiatives on Promoting ICT-Based Citizen Engagement The final Session of the Workshop focused on innovative new NGO and private sector initiatives to promote citizen engagement through the use of ICTs. (From left) Mr. André Blas (WebCitizen, Brazil), Dr. Mark Elliot (Collabforge, Australia), Ms. Anni Haataja, Mr. Devendra Parsad Ruhee, Mr. Saul Lustgarten (Victeams, Venezuela) and Mr. Nicolás Martín (Somos Más, Colombia). WebCitizen (Brazil) Mr. André Blas was the first speaker to take the floor. He spoke on behalf of WebCitizen, a Brazilian company that aims to foster civic engagement and to bring citizens and governments closer to each other through the use of online tools. WebCitizen s first goal was to create an inclusive Gov 2.0 transparency tool on legislation, accessible for every Brazilian. Mr. Blas said that even though laws are the operating system of a democracy, legislation is too often perceived as non-accessible by the citizens, because of the legalistic language and the sheer amount of information. To address this issue, in November 2009 WebCitizen launched Voteontheweb 17, a website that simplifies the bills being discussed at any moment in the Brazilian congress into a short abstract that explains in a user friendly language the content of each bill. People can register to the website and symbolically vote for yes or no on each bill under discussion at the congress

39 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Furthermore, citizens can monitor the congressmen s votes on each bill, and compare their own voting behaviour with the votes of each congressman and other citizens.. This last feature allows citizens to see their affinities with politicians, with political parties and with other Voteontheweb users. The speaker presented some statistics about the site during the last six months: votes bills discussed 39

40 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals registered users 62% of users are16-30 years old 20% of users are first time voters in the next elections Mr. Blas considered that the Voteonaweb platform can contribute to the expansion of democracy and offered its open source for other interested countries. He finished his presentation with the words of Albert Einstein: Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors Somos Más (Colombia) Mr. Nicolás Martin presented the Colombian initiative Somos Más, which promotes networking among non-governmental organizations and helps them aggregate their views, concerns and demands with respect to public affairs. The speaker noted that there is a real demand for enhancing coordination among non-governmental organizations, taking into account their large number (in Colombia alone there are more than non-governmental organizations and over people directly involved with them). This should be done without imposing vertical structures or extra funding requirements on NGOs. 40

41 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals After presenting several case studies on NGO coordination the speaker shared a number of recommendations based on his experience, namely: (i) the need to transcend the project cycle and its structure (not time bound; need to experiment and learn by doing); (ii) the need to experiment in order to learn; (iii) social media not as a means to an end; (iv) the need to be open to collaboration, and; (vi) to avoid the tendency to control. VicTEAMS (Venezuela) Mr. Saul Lustgarten presented a Venezuelan non-profit social startup VicTEAMS 18 that creates, develops and invests on technologies that help societies help themselves Taking into account the increasing impunity on crimes in Venezuela and the scarcity of public information on this matter, VicTEAMS has created an innovative online tool for victims of crimes particularly kidnapping but also robbery, theft, harassment, homicide, abuse of authority, discrimination, and sexual violence to report on the factual incidence of these phenomenon. The tool provides a counter-balancing means of information to contrast official crime statistics, which may in some cases be biased towards under-reporting. The tool deals with sensitive issues of privacy and fair and accurate reporting. Essentially, it constitutes an avenue for citizens, non-government organizations and civil society at large, to get involved in promoting government to adopt more effective anti-crime strategies, starting from fair reporting and accountability

42 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Easy, safe and FREE! Web 2.0 Citizen Security tool VicTEAMS collects statistical data on crime directly from users through an interactive map. Its aim is to generate a comprehensive map on what kind of crimes occur, where and at what time, so that citizens can take precautions, organize themselves and demand solutions from the authorities. While this application should not replace direct reporting to the competent authorities, it can be a mechanism for organizing and warning citizens. The VicTEAMS website is complemented by social networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook and other actions to raise awareneess such as graffiti alerts on the streets and a Committee of Victims against (now@victeams): FIRST TWITTER ACCOUNT TO PROMOTE TWITTER AS A TOOL FOR CITIZEN SECURITY. 42

43 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Collabforge (Australia) Dr. Mark Elliot, from Collabforge 19, presented new Government 2.0 initiatives in Australia based on web.2.0 frameworks. Web 2.0 Framework, as the speaker explained, is a customized organization-wide approach to understanding and leveraging Government 2.0, which harnesses potential and mitigates risk. It can provide control over activities that are likely already happening by introducing structure and delivery mechanisms which are designed to bring disparate activities under the umbrella of an agreed organisational approach Collabforge has offered strategic guidance to initiatives such as the City of Melbourne 10 year city plan, Future Melbourne, which is the world's first wiki-based collaborative city plan; assistance to Parks Victoria for the development of collaborative public consultation platforms and services; bicycle path wiki for the Southern California Association of Governments; and the Vital Valued Victorians Social Media Campaign developed on behalf of the Department of Justice

44 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Open Discussion Upon completion of the presentations, the Chair opened up the floor to the audience. Major issues/ideas/remarks debated can be summarized as follows: It is not easy to involve technocrats as partners in web 2.0 initiatives. It takes time, but once people start to pay attention and to participate a process which is difficult to reverse is triggered, creating a new position of power. It is necessary to emphasize the need for horizontal peer collaboration. Many countries have the people and skills for new ICT-based citizen engagement approaches, but lack processes and tools. 44

45 Workshop Report on Engaging Citizens in Development Management and Public Governance for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Which Way Forward? Outcomes of Roundtable Discussions on Lessons Learnt and Recommendations After the three plenary sessions participants formed three smaller groups to discuss in more depth the respective themes of the plenary sessions. 1. Approaches, trends and challenges: Citizen engagement in the making, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of public policies: What works? 2. Methodologies and tools: Citizen engagement in public service delivery: What works? 3. Innovations, best practices and uses of ICT in citizen engagement: What works? The group discussions focused on lessons learnt and ways forward and each group formulated recommendations on their respective themes for the Barcelona Declaration 20. (From left) Mr. Ionut Negrescu, Ms. Andreea Stoiciu, Mr. Saul Lustgarten, Mr. André Blas, Dr. Mark Elliot, and Ms. Doina Banciu. A synthesis of the outcomes of the three small group discussions, as prepared by each group can be found on the next pages. 20 The Barcelona Declaration on The Critical Role of Public Service in Achieving the Millennium Development Goals, an outcome of the UN Public Service Day, Awards Ceremony and Forum, was read out before the Ministerial Roundtable on the last day of the 3-day event. 45