2013 United Nations Public Service Forum Day and Awards Ceremony OVERALL AIDE-MEMOIRE

Transcription

1 2013 United Nations Public Service Forum Day and Awards Ceremony Transformative egovernment and Innovation: Creating a Better Future for All OVERALL AIDE-MEMOIRE June, 2013 Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain

2 1. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT The United Nations Public Service Forum, Day and Awards Ceremony will take place in Manama, the Kingdom of Bahrain, from 24 to 27 June Focusing on the theme of Transformative e-government and Innovation: Creating a Better Future for All, the Forum is organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) in collaboration with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN ESCWA) and in partnership with the hosting Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain Background In line with the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations is dedicated to promoting the exchange of experiences, ideas and best practices concerning innovations in governance and public administration in order to contribute to social and economic development. The General Assembly itself has reiterated, in resolution 57/277 that particular emphasis should be given to the exchange of experience related to the role of public administration in the implementation of internationally agreed goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration. In resolution 50/225, it also underlined the importance of enhancing international cooperation in the field of public administration, including South-South and inter-regional cooperation. Since 2002, UNDESA - through its Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM), has organized global events on public governance in order to provide world leaders, innovators, government officials, and regional and international organizations with a platform to exchange ideas, practices and strategies to advance the United Nations development agenda. From 2002 to 2007, UNDESA/DPADM has organized the Global Forum on Reinventing Government, bringing together world leaders and government officials from a large number of countries to address government reinvention. Through Resolution A/RES/57/277, the General Assembly requested the United Nations Secretariat to provide support to the Global Forum on Reinventing Government in view of the significance of this event for ministers, senior government officials, civil society organizations, and the private sector. The Secretary-General of the United Nations recommended continued support, if requested, for the Global Forum in his 2002 Report to the General Assembly. In its Resolution 57/277 the United Nations General Assembly designated 23 June as the United Nations Public Service Day. Its purpose is to celebrate the value and virtue of service to the community at the local, national and global levels, with prizes to be awarded to public sector organizations for contributions made to the cause of enhancing the role, prestige and visibility of public service. Therefore, DPADM has organized every year since 2003 the United Nations Public Service Day and Awards Ceremony, a global event where innovators from the entire world meet to present and discuss their awarded initiatives to improve citizens quality of life. 2

3 The United Nations Public Service Awards (UNPSA), which is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service, rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions to a more effective and responsive public administration in countries worldwide. Through an annual competition, the UNPSA promotes the role, professionalism and visibility of public service. It encourages exemplary public service and recognizes that democracy and successful governance are built on a competent civil service. Since 2003, UNDESA has collected, shared, and disseminated innovative practices in public governance through the UNPSA and other knowledge bases. The UNPSA aims at discovering innovations in governance; reward excellence in the public sector; motivate public servants to further promote innovation; enhance professionalism in the public service; raise the image of public service; enhance trust in government; and collect and disseminate successful practices for possible replication. The United Nations Public Service Day and Awards Ceremony, which was traditionally held at United Nations Headquarters in New York is now held every year in a different region of the world to provide a unique opportunity to countries and regions to bring together their best initiatives and share their knowledge with the world at large. It is a capacity-building forum where thinkers, leaders and innovators meet to discuss critical issues of public concern and to map out strategies and tools for the future. The Global Forum on Reinventing Government and the celebration of the United Nations Public Service Day and Awards Ceremony have been combined to provide a unique knowledge-sharing platform, which can bring together worldwide innovators and upstream thinkers to discuss and provide recommendations about critical public governance issues. The 2012 United Nations Public Service Forum took place at United Nations Headquarters in the General Assembly Hall from 25 to 27 June 2012 and brought together over 600 participants from 99 Member States. The Forum focused on the theme of Innovation in Citizen Engagement for Effective Governance and marked the 10 th Anniversary of the UNPSA. In 2011, the United Nations and Africa Public Service Forum was held for the first time in Africa, in Dar-es Salaam, Tanzania, from 20 to 23 June For the first time ever, the United Nations Public Service Day was celebrated jointly with the African Public Service Day, both commemorated on 23 June. The event was organized by UNDESA/DPADM in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), the President s Office of the United Republic of Tanzania, which hosted the event, and in partnership with the UN-Women, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Tanzania and other relevant UN agencies. More than 500 participants from over 80 countries took part in this high-level event. The 2010 United Nations Public Service Forum took place in Barcelona, Spain, from 21 to 23 June, and brought together over 400 participants, including high-level United Nations officials, ministers, senior government officials, mayors, and innovators, Regional and national organizations from over 77 countries and focused on the Role of 3

4 Public Service in Achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The Barcelona Declaration has been instrumental in sharing the recommendations made during the Forum with the world at large and is available online at the United Nations Public Administration Portal (UNPAN) Context The 2013 United Nations Forum comes at a time when citizens the world over are demanding better governance, greater participation in public affairs and enhanced integrity and accountability of public leaders. It is a time when it is critical that governments take stock of how efficiently and equitably they deliver services to citizens, and reflect on what can be done better to ensure that citizens have access to quality services and can enjoy a good standard of living. The theme of the 2013 United Nations Public Service Forum is on Transformative e- Government and Innovation: Creating a Better Future for All. Transforming governments by leveraging the potential of ICT and by promoting innovative solutions to governance challenges is a timely theme and a priority concern of many countries from around the globe. The role of effective, capable and responsive governments has never been more important than it is today to the wellbeing and prosperity of our societies. On the one hand, governments are faced with an increase in citizens demands for (a) effective, equitable and citizen-centric services (including security, education, health, justice, shelter, sanitation, etc.); (b) greater levels of transparency and accountability of what government does, especially in times of scarce resources, and (c) greater citizen engagement in public decision-making processes. On the other hand, governments are faced with a rising set of domestic as well as international challenges. At the domestic level, countries must tackle multiple crises, including the economic crisis, climate change, natural disasters, food and water shortages, expansive waves of international migration with over 200 million people living outside of their country of birth, and, in some cases, intra-state conflicts. At the international level, governments must deal effectively with globalization processes, including the financial crisis, which has both international and domestic components, and issues related to international peace and security. The challenges that the governments are facing at the beginning of the 21 st Century require a holistic approach to transformation and innovation in public governance. This, in turn, requires that governments: Become catalysts for change instead of mere service providers; Become facilitators in promoting networked co-responsibility among stakeholders by engaging and empowering communities to take part in finding the solutions to their problems; Allow for a competitive rather than monopolistic approach to provision of goods and services; Become entrepreneurial in generating revenues and promoting partnerships; Be resultsoriented and customer-driven; Be pro-active instead of reactive (anticipating problems and acting preventively, particularly in relation to natural disasters and conflict); Make full use of opportunities afforded by information and communication technology and e- 4

5 Government, and learn and enhance capacity building through increased sharing of knowledge. This kind of transformative change entails not only the design and implementation of innovative practices in public governance, but more fundamentally a transformation of government s role, functions, institutional frameworks and processes. It is increasingly being recognized that governance is more than government, and that civil society and the private sector are not just customers of public services or stakeholders, but that they can and should be agents of change who can actively be part of the solution by working together in a constructive manner with their governments to solve local and national challenges. In other words, there is a strong paradigm shift about the role that civil society and the private sector can play in contributing to good governance. In this respect, governments need to transform the way they operate to adapt to new ways of engaging citizens and delivering services. Whereas in the past citizens were seen as passive receivers of services and governments were the main providers of solutions, today in all corners of the globe we witness a shift in how services are being conceptualized, managed and delivered. Where citizens are involved in public decision-making making processes and in public service delivery, there is an increased sense of ownership and greater sustainability of public initiatives, as well as more creative ideas on how to do more with less. Experience has shown that governments that made progress in promoting transparency and accountability, and in providing equitable and effective service delivery have developed innovative ideas and practices, making use, whenever possible, of information and communication technology, and relying on strategic partnerships. Innovation should not only be seen as a single practice, but as a process to transform government to better respond to citizens needs and aspirations. In this sense, innovation can be defined and measured in terms of quality and degrees of transformation in relation to societal development goals. Although there are no one-size fits all recipes to innovation, there are mechanisms and tools that can help build endogenous capacity in this area. The explosion of digital connectivity, the significant improvements in communication and information technologies paired with an ever increasing stakeholder s engagement are revolutionizing the governance system and delivery of the public services. In a global population of nearly seven billion people, the number of Internet users worldwide has reached more than two billion people and the number of mobile phone subscriptions is approaching 7 billion according to the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU). With the increasing availability of mobile broadband, governments can expand usage and increase access to services of vulnerable groups, including youth, the disabled, the elderly, women, and indigenous people. The 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also referred to as Rio+20, recognized the power of ICTs, including connection technologies and their innovative applications, to promote knowledge exchange, technical cooperation and capacity-building for sustainable development. The recent report by the UN Task Team on Post 2015 development agenda underscored that ICTs have expanded opportunities for the creation, transmission and dissemination of information. Greater knowledge sharing will be critical 5

6 to induce the holistic and transformative change needed to promote innovation and collaborative governance and to ultimately achieve economic, social and environmental development. The potential of ICT tools for improved efficiency, reduced cost, enhanced quality of online public services, greater dialogue between citizens and governments, implementation of innovative practices are being explored by governments around the world as means of improving the quality and responsiveness of the services they provide to their citizens. E-government can play a fundamental role in meeting the social, economic and environmental challenges of our societies. Leading e-government countries are expanding the reach and accessibility of their services and public infrastructure to allow citizens to experience faster and greater transparent access to government information and services. The e-government initiatives of government agencies and departments to use ICT tools and applications, internet and mobile devices to support good governance, strengthen existing relationships and build new partnerships with civil society, have created a wave of technological innovation and government transformation. E-government is a multidimensional and complex issue, which requires a broad definition and understanding in order to effectively design and implement a successful strategy. The adoptive challenges of e-government go far beyond technology; they call for organizational structures and individual skills, new forms of leadership, transformative public and private partnerships. E-government offers great opportunities such as (i) cost reduction and efficiency gains, (ii) quality of services delivery to business and customers, (iii) transparency, anticorruption and accountability, (iv) networking and community creation, (v) improvement of the quality of decision making and (vi) promotion of the use of ICT in other sectors of the society. While providing enormous opportunities, e- government also represents many challenges, such as establishing strong leaderships to implement innovative initiatives and to successfully implement them through motivating, influencing and supporting their staff, their constituencies and their people. The Forum will, therefore, look at how to build the capacities of government leaders at all levels to develop appropriate e-government strategies for development; how to engage citizens in service design and delivery; and how to make sure that public administration and public service delivery are inclusive and responsive to the needs of women, and other vulnerable groups, for a more equitable society The Hosting Country: Kingdom of Bahrain This year s Forum is supported and hosted by the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain. This in itself is highly symbolic and unique as it is the first time that the United Nations Public Service Forum, Day and Awards Ceremony will be held in the Arab Region. It is also the first global forum in the Arab Region on governance and innovation that will bring together innovators and government officials from all over the world to exchange knowledge and cutting edge ideas on how to transform government to achieve sustainable development and a better future for all. 6

7 The Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain has made great strides in the area of e- government and innovation, and it is, therefore, befitting that this high-level event is being co-organized and hosted by the Government of Bahrain. Since its inception, Bahrain s egovernment has provided the country with eservices, eservice delivery channels, epayment services, unlimited government transparency, citizen participation and IT literacy along with customer satisfaction of government services. Governmental entities began to spend less on human resources, facilities and archiving documents. Furthermore, users began to grasp and perform government transactions electronically which resulted in decreasing paper printing - creating a positive impact on the environment. Additionally, the government benefited from shortened transaction processes to their clients and employees and citizens received easy access to services. Established in 2007, the authority inaugurated 31 eservices during its first year. Today over 280 services are available and more are launched regularly throughout the year. The first year began with the launch of the portal as a mean of an eservice delivery channel, followed by Mobile Portal, ekiosks, eservice Centers and the National Contact Center, making services and information available 24/7. The Kingdom s 11 international awards in the egovernment and ICT field have proved Bahrain s determination and capabilities. The most recent recognitions include winning the first place in the United Nations Public Service Day Awards 2012 within the Advanced Government Knowledge Management category for the Zajel project. Participants from around the world will come together in Bahrain for four days to explore, discuss and share knowledge about emerging trends, good practices, as well as strategies and approaches 2. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES The United Nations Public Service Forum is a unique global event on public governance that provides a platform to explore, discuss and learn about: Emerging challenges, issues and trends - what are the major challenges and issues governments are facing at present and what is their vision for the future? Innovative practices to address these challenges - what are the governance solutions that are being spearheaded in different parts of the world? Capacity development strategies, approaches and tools - how can we learn from these practices and what tools are available or can be developed to move forward The ultimate goal of the Forum is to build the capacity of governments, particularly in developing countries, to anticipate and respond, in a collaborative and innovative way, to the many challenges of our time, including multiple crises, volatile international markets, climate change, persisting poverty, etc. It also aims at promoting better international and 7

8 Regional cooperation, while giving government officials and other stakeholders an opportunity to exchange good practices, experiences and lessons learned through networking opportunities. The 2013 United Nations Public Service Forum will build a shared understanding among all governance actors of what e-government policies and strategies, practices and tools Member States can adopt to build public sector capacities to promote a more effective, transparent, accountable, participatory and citizen-centric public administration with a view to fostering greater social and economic development. The Forum will be articulated in plenary sessions, parallel capacity development workshops, and other events. The plenary sessions, including the Ministerial Roundtable, will provide an opportunity to learn from inspirational leaders how to transform government in times of multiple crisis and to dialogue with them through an interactive discussion. The parallel capacity development workshops and the Expert Group Meeting, which will have the same broad objectives, will provide participants an opportunity to: Present and discuss challenges and trends in public governance in the specific thematic area; Share successful experiences in strengthening public administration capacity in the specific thematic area through the presentation of the initiatives of the 2013 UNPSA winners; Discuss what tools are available to strengthen public administration capacity in the area of innovation and e-government, with a particular focus not only on what policy options are available, but also on how to enable countries to build such capacity; Strengthen North-South and South-South cooperation to enhance public sector capacity building. 3. EXPECTED RESULTS The Forum is expected to achieve the following goals: Increased knowledge of challenges and trends, best practices and tools in the five inter-related areas, which will be crystallized and further shared with other UN Member States through the United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN) and United Nations Public Administration Country Studies (UNPACS) and a relevant publication; Learn about concrete solutions to complex governance challenges and explore the possibility of adapting good practices, through peer-to-peer learning; 8

9 Share innovative capacity development tools and approaches to build national and local capacity, and brainstorm on the development of manuals and guidelines on how to strengthen the capacity of public administration in the four areas of focus; Network with government officials, experts, and practitioners from around the world during and beyond the event; Leave the Forum with renewed commitment and inspiration to serve better communities and work together to co-create a better future for all. 4. THEMES FOR DISCUSSION While the overall theme of the Forum is Transformative e-government and Innovation Creating a Better Life for All, the parallel capacity development workshops and the Expert Group Meeting will focus on strengthening public administration capacity in five inter-related sub-themes: 1. Promoting Collaborative Governance through Innovation and ICTs 2. The Transformative Power of e-government: Innovative Ideas and Practical Tools for the Post-2015 Development Agenda 3. Transfer of Innovations for Improved Public Service Delivery in Least Developed Countries 4. Fostering Participation in the Context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda 5. Transforming Public Service Delivery to Advance Gender Equality 6. GCC Initiatives Towards egovernance and Sustainable Public Services Information about each meeting s thematic area is provided below Promoting Collaborative Governance through Innovation and ICTs This UN Capacity Development Workshop on Promoting Collaborative egovernance through Innovation and ICT will aim to provide a platform for senior level officials from the Arab region and across the world, to discuss 21 st century trends and challenges in e- government. The workshop will aim to provide policy options on how governments can tackle multi-faceted and complex issues and provide better public services to their citizens through collaborative governance systems in an open and participatory manner. The main objectives will be to (i) share experiences and lessons learned, (ii) debate emerging issues of e-government development as defined in UNDESA s flagship publication titled UN E-government Survey 2012 which focused on whole of government approaches (iii) discuss the predominant institutional framework models, and (iv) provide 9

10 recommendations on institutional capacity building for e-government officials to respond to an ever changing and challenging environment of innovations in technology. In this regard, the workshop will focus on two inter-linking issues: (i) the challenges and opportunities of whole of government collaborative approaches and (ii) the challenges of public administration across the world to increase their level of interoperability by leveraging on new technologies and innovation. The Workshop on Promoting Collaborative egovernance through Innovation and ICT will be based on the six dimensions of E-government readiness as defined by the UN e- Government Survey 2012, however, it will remain focused on one of the most challenging dimensions of the 21 st century, i.e. whole of government collaborative approach. In two days, the participants will be guided and facilitated through presentations, experience sharing and in depth analysis on whole of government approaches. The adoption of whole of government approaches by many countries around the world is accompanied by many challenges and opportunities in terms of revisiting institutional arrangements, promoting citizen-centric design and maintaining standards setting and systems integration, as well as the need to determine the conditions which allow for collaboration across and between public institutions, through institutional arrangements to ensure that while public service delivery is improved, the efficiency, accountability, transparency and participation remain at the heart of overall governance. Therefore the issues of e-leadership, institutional frameworks, infrastructure networks, public sector interoperability, online service integration will be thoroughly discussed during the workshop, session by session in an integrated manner, where theoretical approaches will be shared and discussed through presentations of world-known experts coupled with presentation of concrete cases by e-government high level government officials from across the world. The UNPSA winners of the category on Whole-of- Government Approaches will present their initiatives and ample time will be devoted to discussion. The audience is expected to be highly involved through interactive questions and answers sessions and round-table discussions The Transformative Power of e-government: Innovative Ideas and Practical Tools for the Post-2015 Development Agenda DPADM/UNDESA is organizing an Expert Group Meeting on The Transformative Power of e-government: Innovative Ideas and Practical Tools for the Post-2015 Development Agenda within the framework of the 2013 United Nations Public Service Forum. The move towards a more citizen-centric approach entails improving online public service delivery through better use of ICT tools towards promoting the digitalization of the public sector, enabling better access to electronic services, including mobile delivery, and making self-service solutions through electronic and mobile services an opportunity 10

11 for all. In this context, DPADM is developing a Toolkit on promoting collaborative e- governance for the use of all UN Member States to be made available online for maximum global outreach. The purpose of the Toolkit is to help Member States to (a) self-identify the steps they need to take to promote collaborative governance and transform their government so as that it is more efficient, effective, transparent and open, accountable, participatory and citizen-centric, and to (b) provide guidance on how to effectively design and implement a governance strategy and a road map to promote economic, social and sustainable development through progress in key governance areas. The purpose of the EGM is to provide a forum for discussion to allow the experts to (a) exchange views on emerging trends and issues related to the theme of the meeting and to (b) provide advice and recommendations for DPADM on the finalization of the Toolkit. The sub-themes of the discussion are the six themes selected for the United Nations e- Government Survey 2014, namely i) whole of government approach; ii) e-participation; iii) multichannel service delivery; iv) usage; v) digital divide and vulnerable groups; and vi) open government data. The format of the meeting is highly interactive. Each thematic session begins with a short presentation on the theme of the session followed by participative and structured discussion among the experts with the view of providing concrete recommendations for the Toolkit Transfer of Innovations for Improved Public Service Delivery in Least Developed Countries DPADM s Public Administration Capacity Building Branch of UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs is organizing, within the framework of the 2013 United Nations Public Service Forum, a capacity-building workshop on Transfer of innovations for improved public service delivery in the least developed countries. The Workshop for 25 to 30 participants from interested least developed countries will offer a platform for selected public sector managers to increase awareness of the innovations available for important areas of service delivery. Specifically, the workshop will serve as a working space for networking and for exchanging ideas, knowledge and strategies on the ways to design and implement efficient, equitable and responsive delivery systems. The workshop is expected to make recommendations on which specific innovations are to be transferred and adapted, as well as which countries would participate in the subsequent practitioner-to-practitioner knowledge transfer workshops Fostering Participation in the Context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda The Workshop on Fostering Participation in the Context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda is being organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in partnership with DPADM/UNDESA. It aims to provide a forum where practitioners and other participants can exchange ideas, experiences and lessons learned on fostering participation for the achievement of the MDGs and beyond. 11

12 It also intends enhancing participants capacity to conduct a self-assessment with respect to the engagement of citizens in managing development in their respective countries. To this end, the UN Secretariat has developed a citizen engagement self-assessment questionnaire (CESAQ), the conceptual framework of which was discussed during an Expert Group Meeting and a capacity development workshop jointly organized by DPADM and ESCWA in Beirut, Lebanon on 3-6 December In addition, the workshop will help identify needs for capacity development and training requirements to track progress on participatory governance and citizen engagement in development management in the Arab Region Transforming Public Service Delivery to Advance Gender Equality UN Women is organizing a capacity development workshop, within the framework of the Forum, entitled Transforming Public Service Delivery to Advance Gender Equality. During the workshop, representatives of Finance Ministries, planning ministries, sector ministries, local governments and civil society organizations will examine good practice, gaps and challenges in women s access to public services. The issue of financing for gender equality and its impact on the implementation of commitments towards gender equality and women s rights will be discussed throughout the meeting. Participants will be encouraged to think about how best to integrate a gender perspective in governments plans and budgets with a view to improving women and girls access to public services and achieving equitable development results. Specifically, the workshop will aim to achieve the following objectives: Discuss measures and initiatives improving women s access to public services (at national, sectorial and local level) in stable and post-conflict countries and how they can be replicated; Share knowledge about capacity development and accountability measures that strengthens financing for gender equality and women s access to public services (gender-sensitive costing, planning, budgeting and public expenditures tracking); Build practical skills for gender responsive planning, budgeting and performance monitoring; Identify a set of recommendations for transforming public service delivery at policy level and technical level and positioning this issue in the post-2015 agenda GCC Initiatives Towards egovernance and Sustainable Public Services The egovernment Authority of the Kingdom of Bahrain is organizing a workshop to showcase GCC initiatives on public service delivery. 12

13 4.7. Ministerial Roundtable The conclusions and recommendations of the parallel workshops and the Expert Group Meeting will be reflected in the Final Declaration of the Forum and discussed during a high-level Ministerial Roundtable. 5. ORGANIZATION 5.1. Participants Over 700 participants are expected to attend the Forum, including high-level United Nations officials and representatives of the Kingdom of Bahrain, as well as world leaders, ministers, senior government officials, mayors, civil society representatives, the academia, the private sector, and representatives from international and Regional organizations Official Languages The official languages of the meeting will be Arabic, English and French during the plenary sessions (24 th and 27 th of June) and selected workshops. Other workshops/expert Group Meeting will be conducted in English only. Information on the languages will be made available by each workshop/expert Group Meeting Electronic Networking All the documents of the meeting will be posted on the online at the Global Network on Public Administration (UNPAN) at and the egovernment Authority of Bahrain website at Format of the Meeting The Forum will be articulated along five major components: 1) Plenary sessions to discuss emerging issues and trends in e-government and innovation; 2) Parallel capacity development workshops/expert Group Meeting to analyze and allow for in-depth discussions about trends, innovative practices and lessons learned in key areas of public governance; 3) Ministerial Roundtable and presentation of the Forum Final Declaration (with inputs from all workshops and the Expert Group Meeting); 4) United Nations Public Service Ceremony and Awards; 13

14 5) Public Service Day Exhibition, organized alongside the Forum; 6) Parallel special meetings will be held on the morning of the fourth day. It is expected that the parallel capacity development workshops and the Expert Group Meeting will be highly interactive since all participants will be given the opportunity to think analytically about the cases being presented and bring in their own experience and expertise of what helps countries strengthen capacities in public administration in the aforementioned areas of concentration. The Forum will end with a plenary session where the rapporteurs of each working group will present to the larger audience a set of recommendations on the way forward. Recommendations from each workshop and the Expert Group Meeting will be presented and discussed on the last day of the Forum during the Ministerial Roundtable. They will then be incorporated into the Forum Final Declaration, which is of special importance because it has been realized that without high-level political support, most of the proposed capacity building strategies do not get the political leverage and resources to be implemented. In addition, a short summary of the workshop and Expert Group Meeting discussions (7-10 pages) will be prepared by the workshop organizers and incorporated into the overall final report for the 2013 United Nations Public Service Forum. The event will close with the United Nations Public Service Awards Ceremony to recognize the winners of the 2013 United Nations Public Service Awards winners. Contact Information For overall substantive and organizational enquiries, please contact: UNDESA John-Mary Kauzya Officer-in-Charge Division for Public Administration and Development Management Chief, Public Administration Capacity Building Branch/DPADM UNDESA kauzya@un.org Adriana Alberti UNPSA 2013 Forum Coordinator Senior Governance and Public Administration Officer e-government Branch Division for Public Administration and Development Management UNDESA alberti@un.org 14

15 Anni Haataja Governance and Public Administration Officer e-government Branch Division for Public Administration and Development Management UNDESA Sirkka Nghilundilua UNPSA Coordinator Public Administration Capacity Building Branch Division for Public Administration and Development Management UNDESA Flor Velazco-Juarez Team Member Public Administration Capacity Branch Division for Public Administration and Development Management UNDESA egovernment Authority of Bahrain Ziad Ismail Asfour Marketing & Awareness Assistant Director Directorate of Marketing & Awareness egovernment Authority Sahayer Ebrahim Al Hashimi Chief, Public Relations & Media Directorate of Marketing & Awareness egovernment Authority Ali H. Darwish Head, Public Relations Directorate of Marketing & Awareness egovernment Authority 15