Expert Consultative Meeting on Public Administration and Public Accounting Development Beirut, Lebanon, 1-3 July 2003

Transcription

1 African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development United Nations Online Network in Public Administration and Finance Expert Consultative Meeting on Public Administration and Public Accounting Development Beirut, Lebanon, 1-3 July 2003 Panel on Extension of UNPAN in the Arab Region: Strengthening Cooperation among UNPAN Members e-information management in public administration via the UNPAN programme: The African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development (CAFRAD) experience by Prof. Tijjani Muhammad Bande Director-General of CAFRAD and Dr. Gianluca Misuraca Associate Expert UNDESA/DPADM in Information Technology and Networking at CAFRAD - draft -

2 INDEX 0. Abstract Background Overview of activities Challenges ahead Implementation Strategy

3 0. Abstract The paper provides an overview of the experience of the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development (CAFRAD) as Online Regional Centre of the United Nations Online Network in Public Administration and Finance (UNPAN). It presents the activities undertaken and the spectacular results achieved in the last two years with the technical assistance provided by UNDESA/DPADM to CAFRAD in furtherance of their common objectives. The paper also reflects on the importance of the Arab region to Africa, given that most Arab speakers in the world are Africans. As such, any improvement in the living conditions of Arab countries is of direct relevance to CAFRAD, which mainly operates in the Africa region. Finally, the paper highlights the challenges and the opportunities of strengthening cooperation among UNPAN Members, and provides some proposals for the expansion of UNPAN to sub-regional and national levels, in African and Arab countries. 3

4 1. Background The African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development (CAFRAD) is a Pan African intergovernmental organisation, established in 1964 by African governments, with the support of UNESCO; making it the first uniquely Pan-African training and research centre in the continent for the development of public administration and governance systems in Africa. Its headquarters is located in Tangier (Morocco) and membership is open to all African countries: at present, CAFRAD represents 37 member States. The Mission of CAFRAD is to support governments and related bodies in strengthening public administration and governance, promoting management innovation and serving as a centre of excellence through partnership and networking with countries and institutions, developing human capacity and enhancing leadership in Africa. CAFRAD s main functions are the following: to deal with major critical governance issues facing African countries; to serve as clearinghouse for exchanging and disseminating knowledge and information in African public administration and management; to provide an high-level forum for discussions by African governments on common problems, in order to enhance capacity building; and it operates in three official languages : Arabic, English and French. The role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to improve governance systems is at the center of the operation of CAFRAD that, already in the seventies, was acting as Focal Point for the African Network of Administrative Information (ANAI), supported by the Canadian cooperation. CAFRAD also accomplished training and research activities in the use of ICTs to strengthen governance, supporting the process of renewal of public administrations in Africa. ICTs provide a powerful tool to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Thus, the mainstreaming of ICTs within planning and design of development strategies is pivotal, both at national and regional levels. The advent of Information Society, in fact, is creating unprecedented conditions for bridging the digital divide through supporting government operations to strengthen the establishment of efficient, effective and transparent governance systems. Electronic tools can significantly improve the services and information flows from administrations to their constituencies. Communication among administrations and citizens and businesses can be enhanced and, at the same time, ICTs offer unique opportunities for the re-use and exploitation of public sector information within the emerging digital economy. Bringing out this potential will create vast economic opportunities for developing countries. Within this context, the UNPAN On-line Regional Centre CAFRAD (UNPAN- ORC-CAFRAD) has been established within the framework of CAFRAD partnership with UNDESA/DPADM during the first phase of implementation of UNPAN ( ). 4

5 The UNPAN On-line Centres selected for their prominence as public sector policy and management institutions, are responsible for information and knowledge management within their own geographic areas. As a dynamic online network, UNPAN is being developed so its users can best utilize and benefit from the regional and international centres intrinsic capacity and expertise. The Network is structured in such a way as to fully utilize the substantive, technical and human resource capabilities of each centre, either regional or international, and to build capacity in areas where needed. This component is one of the inherent strengths of UNPAN. UNPAN s Mission, in fact, is to promote the sharing of knowledge, experiences and best practices throughout the world in sound public policies, effective public administration systems and efficient civil services, through capacity-building and cooperation among Member States to bridge the digital divide, with emphasis on South-South cooperation and commitment to integrity and excellence. UNPAN s immediate beneficiaries are Public Administration-related regional and national institutions. Its ultimate clients are the citizens of the world, government entities, the private sector, NGOs, and academic institutions. The immediate objective of UNPAN was therefore to establish an electronic platform linking online a number of institutions for information exchange, experience sharing and onthe job training in the area of public sector policy and management. Its long-term objective is to build the capacity of these regional and international institutions to access, process, and disseminate relevant information via up-to-date information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the promotion of better public administration. To ensure this, UNPAN is designed to reinforce, first of all, the necessary capacities of the regional and international centres partner of the UNPAN Network. CAFRAD, as UNPAN ORC, is enhancing -with the support of UNDESA/DPADM- its operational structure to perform more efficiently UNPAN activities. To achieve this objective, UNDESA/DPADM provides technical assistance through ICT support, training and consultancy by the on-line help desk of the Information and Networking Unit (INU) of the Office of the Director of DPADM/UNDESA and the secondment of Experts at CAFRAD. The aim of the technical support to CAFRAD is to strengthen institutional and human resources capacity of the Centre and of its Member States through the enhancement of the regional virtual on-line network for exchange of knowledge, experience and practices in public administration and governance. CAFRAD, given its role and location, is very interested in the expansion of UNPAN in the Arab region. What may not be obvious is that there are more Arab speakers in Africa than anywhere else. Any effort which improves the delivery of public goods and services to Arab countries, directly benefits Africa. Thus, strengthening cooperation among UNPAN Members, especially in the Arab region and in the Mediterranean basin is pivotal to the successful implementation of the UNPAN Programme and can provide an important base to enhance the capacity of UNPAN Network in the Africa region and worldwide. 5

6 2. Overview of activities The UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD is fully operational since 2001: thanks to the World Wide Web, through UNPAN, African countries now have immediate and ongoing access to a vital tool for strengthening the capacity of public sector management ( ). Having established its own information and knowledge infrastructure, UNPAN-ORC- CAFRAD is acting as African Information and Knowledge Clearinghouse, authenticating and interpreting information and data customized through an Information exchange system between CAFRAD and African States, to be developed taking into consideration what is meaningful and useful for capacity-building in African Countries. This overall objective includes the following actions: collection and selection of content from a quality point of view; dissemination to Member States of relevant information, through UNPAN; provision of training on UNPAN tool utilization; analysis of African Countries capacity and needs for UNPAN implementation; promotion of capacity-building and South-South cooperation. Since 2002 a particular effort in relation to UNPAN Documentation Management process, has been undertaken by CAFRAD. An important aspect of UNDESA/DPADM support regards also the digitalization of CAFRAD library, which contains over thirty thousand (30.000) documents on all aspects of Public Administration and Governance (Administrative Reform, Legislation, Training and Research materials and publications by CAFRAD, regional and International Organizations, etc.). The goal of this activity is to computerize all CAFRAD library linking on-line the documentation content and references. The focus of activities undertaken was in the improvement of the management of UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD, strengthening its role as African Regional Focal point for Public Administration and Governance issues. In this regard, the results achieved can be summarised as follows: 1. Dissemination of Methodology and tools of the UNPAN e-information System The participation in training activities of UNPAN allowed CAFRAD to acquire a deep understanding of UNPAN e-information System management. The immediate result of this activity is an increased knowledge and involvement of CAFRAD staff in UNPAN activities through information sharing, and provision of general and personal training sessions; The long-term result of this activity is the increased sustainability of UNPAN-ORC- CAFRAD through a deeper involvement of staff and improvement of their skills. 6

7 2. Improvement of the UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD e-information System The design and implementation of procedures on UNPAN/DMS, and the support to UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD in solving problems related to the operation of the on-line network, led to a four-fold increase in output within one year. In particular, the main results are: Increased number of inputs checked-in by the UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD: 573 input checked-in; 3 New serials links; 47 Conference/training database and online directories (UNPAN progress report - May 2003); Highly improved quality of documentation through standardisation of documentation management and design and implementation of procedures for information sharing and quality control; CAFRAD On-line bibliography database; Up-to date On line Conference and Training services. 3. Improvement of UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD overall performance Support to the reorganisation and improvement of strategic planning and management reengineering, with particular regard to the establishment of an internal monitoring and evaluation system and the enhancement of web communication facilities, including support to web redesign and the set-up of a sharing knowledge system, produced the following: increased strategic planning capacities and change-management activities, including preparation and presentation of monthly plan of activities and development of management support tools; enhancement of CAFRAD connectivity-speed (from 32KB to 128KB) to better accomplish UNPAN activities and enhancement of other communication facilities to improve networking activities; enhancement of internal IT network system and implementation of a basic information sharing system and IT equipment, and improvement of Web site; support to the implementation of the Internship Programme, in order to supplement human resources in several areas of expertise. 4. Networking with the relevant public administration institutions in Africa The promotion of UNPAN activities within the Africa region, networking and marketing activities, assisting CAFRAD activities related to UNPAN objectives, including the establishment of partnership with regional and international institutions and the promotion of public-private partnerships, is underlined by the following: increased visibility of UNPAN in Africa and of CAFRAD s role in it, and presentations of UNPAN in relevant seminars at national/regional levels; development of the CAFRAD contact database and establishment of the CAFRAD monthly WebNewsletter; 7

8 participation in the relevant Web sharing knowledge networks of interest for Africa; establishment and consolidation of several partnership in areas of interest of UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD activities. 5. Support to the Development of globally applicable techniques in areas of strategic interest of UNPAN In this area, UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD supported the identification of training needs in Africa and the implementation of activities related to the application of Information Technology to distance-learning, training for local governance, strategic planning and performance management. 6. Contribution to the strategic planning of UNPAN implementation to national level in Africa and promotion of the work of CAFRAD related to UNPAN objectives The support to the co-ordination of the UNPAN Global Network and to the strategic planning of UNPAN implementation to national level in Africa produced the following: Participation in the 4 th Interregional Consultative Meeting of UNPAN (Palermo, Italy, 9 April 2002) and preparation of the draft Report of the Meeting; and support to the management of the International Conference e-government for Development (Palermo, Italy, April 2002); Design and promotion of the e-africa 2002: building e-governance capacity in Africa, project proposal and organisation of the e-africa First Regional Workshop on building e-governance capacity in Africa (Johannesburg October 2002); it involved co-ordination of the overall organisation and execution of the workshop and of the e-africa working Group ; Support to the organisational activities of the 4 th Global Forum on Reinventing Government (Marrakech, Morocco, December 2002). It included coordinating the organisation and execution of the Side Event on e-africa (Marrakech, Morocco 12 December 2002). 8

9 3. Challenges ahead The second Phase of UNPAN faces the challenges related to effective information and knowledge management, enhancing governance capacity at sub-regional and national levels. The importance of expanding UNPAN to sub-regional and national levels is well underlined by the message addressed by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the 4 th Global Forum on Reinventing Government, (Marrakech, Morocco, December 2002), organized by the Kingdom of Morocco and UNDESA, which indicated that UNPAN facilitates access to information, disseminates knowledge about good practices and provides an international forum for the exchange of experiences. In Africa, the UNPAN Network includes three institutions: CAFRAD African Training and Reserach Centre in Administration for Development; IDEP African Institute for Economic Development and Planning; OFPA African Civil Services Observatory. The expansion of UNPAN Network to sub-regional and national level in Africa, involving Governments and other African ORCs and regional institutions, within the framework of the NEPAD Plan of Action, will play a pivotal role in enhancing governance capacity in African countries. At the same time, CAFRAD being a PanAfrican institutions that operates in three official languages, (Arabic, English and French), and based in Tangier (Kingdom of Morocco), has also a natural vocation to cooperate with Arab countries and the European countries within the Mediterranean basin and in the Middle-East, where ARADO, UNESCWA and UNCT, that are also members of UNPAN, mainly operate. During the period , the activities of the UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD will focus on the support to the improved performance of CAFRAD as a centre. Specifically, objectives and activities are mainly to: 1. Consolidate UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD e-information Management System; 2. Improve UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD performance through developing on-line products; 3. Consolidate Networking and partnerships with the relevant public administration institutions in Africa, in the Arab world and in the Mediterranean basin; 4. Enhance institutional capacity building of UNPAN-ORC CAFRAD; 5. Implement globally applicable techniques in areas of strategic interest of UNPAN; 6. Contribute to the implementation of UNPAN to sub-regional and national levels in Africa and in the Arab countries; 7. Contribute in any way possible to the implementation of governance and public administration in Africa and in the Arab region. 9

10 4. Implementation Strategy In connection with the foregoing, and within the framework of enhancing public administration and governance in developing countries, there is a clear recognition of challenges and opportunities particularly relating to the development of a widespread «Knowledge-based Society» to be created using e-governance as a tool. A significant development in Africa is the determination of national governments to liberalize service provision, promote pilot applications and the Internet, build human resources at national level and open up to foreign investments. Nevertheless, it should be underlined that there are a number of practical issues that make ICTs exploitation in Africa particularly challenging. These include: infrastructural deficits; administrative rules and practices; uncertainty about the conditions for re-use of information; and accuracy of data. Concerted action at local levels and partnerships are called for. Given this, it is pivotal to identify the ways and the means of using new technologies in the respective countries and regions. Some high-level initiatives and a number of projects focused on e-government for development and e-governance are underway or about to commence. In this context, a crucial role is played by the availability of reliable information, covering aspects related to public administration, public economics and governance. The sharing of data and information is essential for all levels of Government and for the private sector. High quality information on for example administrative procedures, traffic, investment conditions, the environmental situation etc. can make the difference, when offering goods or services to clients 1. For this reason, CAFRAD, with the support of UNDESA/DPADM, is starting to identify mechanisms for the expansion of UNPAN to subregional and national levels, with particular regard to the Africa region. In this regard, CAFRAD is to identify some Focal Points in the National administrations that could support the process of implementation of the UNPAN e- Information System to sub-regional and national levels. This may be done selecting a limited number of countries where the level of computerisation and competencies are advanced. They will be a sort of benchmark for larger implementation in Africa. At this stage, the role of the National Focal Point is an informal contact person with CAFRAD in relation to the collection and dissemination of documentation. In particular, the selected Focal Point should transmit on a regular basis, information, documentation, data and web links on Public Administration and Governance in the respective country, according to the general classification of UNPAN. The UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD will process the data for placement on UNPAN. In addition, the National Contact Person should inform UNPAN-ORC- CAFRAD about relevant Conferences, Training activities and projects that take place in the respective country. The UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD will disseminate information and will channel to the National contact persons eventual request of further information. 1 A Research by the European Union Directorate General External Relations, Development and Cooperation suggests that between 15 and 25% of total data requirement in e-commerce trading is based on public sector information. 10

11 All this will allow the selected countries to improve the networking and marketing of their Public Administration and Governance Systems, while, at the same time, providing the information to alla stakeholders and other users. The implementation strategy of UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD to sub-regional and national level aims to give a response to urgent needs expressed by African countries in the improvement of their governance and the use of ICT, both at the central and local level. Within this context, the expansion of UNPAN is to be considered as part of the on-going efforts in institutional and administrative reform and modernization, as well as in the improvement of the economy and governance in African countries. The strategy here is to zero-in on building capacity of civil servants to decide on operational issues related to e-governance policy and implementation of initiatives and programmes. The improvement of an e-information Network at sub-regional and national levels will facilitate electronic processing of information within governments and exchange of information, knowledge and experiences with national and international institutions, and with the privae sector. As a service-driven provider UNPAN-ORC-CAFRAD will provide users with exclusive on-line access to a vast database of regional and international experiences, major development and trends, policy oriented analysis and research, technical advisory services, training and distance learning. To make UNPAN ORC CAFRAD realize its full potential its Members States should take an active role in building and sustaining the Regional Network. In addition, CAFRAD, through UNPAN needs to continually strengthen partnership and collaboration with regional and international institutions, creating synergies for the development of Governance and Public Administration in Africa. 11