We happened across the website the South Korea-based United Nations Project Office on Governance (UNPOG), established in 2006 as a subsidiary organization of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). http://www.unpog.org/
UNPOG’s the principal mission is “assisting Member States improve their governance capacity,” and since its founding it has “conducted innovative research and capacity-building activities and disseminated global and local best practices on participatory, transparent and effective democratic governance.”
We found this excerpt from UNPOG’s welcome message on its About” page instructive:
As a process by which all stakeholders such as government, private sector and civil society collaborate to effectively address various needs of multifaceted modern society, governance will continue to have a crucial role in promoting development, especially in this era of globalization and innovation. The UN Project Office on Governance will spare no effort to foster good governance policies among the United Nations Member States.
Our office endeavors to be the Global Hub for Good Governance, a platform where meaningful and productive discussions are made and best practices are disseminated. Your participation and interest will be essential to turning our vision into a reality.
Here, here…
We write here on the first of two items that caught our eye as we scanned the website: the release of a new mobile app titled UN Innovations in Public Governance.
This free application is “available worldwide for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, lets users easily explore the entire archive of 145 Public Service Award-Winning Initiatives, including the just-announced 2011 winners. The App allows users to filter by Subject, Category, Region, Country and Year, and learn about each initiative from content that is optimised for a mobile platform.”
We used the app to search by pull-down menus, First by Subject: Transparency, and then by Category: Improving Transparency, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Public Service.
One award winner record came back from 2007 with a useful discussion of the problem, the solution. A quick summary is below: :
2007: Australian Public Service Commission, Australia
Description
Enhancing Public Service performance and accountability through the State of the Service Report.
Summary
The State of the Service Report is an annual report on the state of the Australian Public Service prepared by the Australian Public Service Commissioner and presented to the Prime Minister for tabling in Parliament. It provides the Australian Public Service Commission as well as the government and the parliament with an effective picture of how the commission is performing in a devolved environment. It helps to identify its strengths, its key challenges and areas in need of further improvement, to ensure that it delivers effective outcomes for the Australian Government and the community in the future.
We will continue to explore this app and the UNPOG’s programs and write further shortly…
David R. Curry
19 October 2011
