UNITED NATIONS
2010 U NITED N ATIONS P UBLIC S ERVICE D AY
–
A WARDS C EREMONY AND F ORUM
A
H
E
G
M
(
)
“
DEVELOPING INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITIES ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION FOR THE
ACHIEVEMENT OF MDGs IN POST CONFLICT AND CRISIS SITUATIONS:
CHALLENGES, BEST PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNED IN PREPAREDNESS,
PREVENTION AND RECONSTRUCTION
”
21-23 June 2010
I. BACKGROUND
The Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting on “Developing Institutional Capacities of Public
Administration for the Achievement of MDGs in Post Conflict and Crisis Situations:
Challenges, Best Practices and Lessons Learned in Preparedness, Prevention and
Reconstruction” will be organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and
Social Affairs (DESA) Division for Public Administration and Development
Management (DPADM) in collaboration with the Government of Catalonia. This event will be held in Barcelona, Spain from 21 to 23 June 2010 within the framework of the
United Nations Public Service Awards Day – Awards Ceremony and Forum organized by
UNDESA and hosted by the Government of Catalonia of the Kingdom of Spain.
The United Nations Public Service Awards Programme is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service. It rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions to more effective and responsive public administration in countries worldwide. Through an annual competition, the United Nations Public Service Awards Programme is successful in promoting the role, professionalism and visibility of public service. The programme is aimed toward
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encouraging exemplary public service, given that democracy and successful governance are built on a competent civil service.
The United Nations Public Service Forum - Day and Awards Ceremony will offer plenary sessions and a series of parallel capacity development workshops on different aspects of strengthening the role of public service to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), as well as an Ad Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting focusing on Developing Institutional Capacities of Public Administration for the Achievement of
MDGs in Post Conflict and Crisis Situations: Challenges, Best Practices, and Lessons
Learned in Preparedness, Prevention, and Reconstruction”
II.
CONTEXT
Public Administration (Government) is expected to deal with problems and challenges that civil society, private sector, and individuals cannot handle on their own. This means that Public Administration needs to have institutional, human, and material as well as financial capacities to address such challenges and problems. However, there have been occurrences that illustrate that in many countries, even those considered as developed, often do not possess such capacities in sufficient magnitude to deal with some of the problems and challenges that they face. The recent cases of natural, as well as man-made disasters including tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and armed conflicts make this point clearly and remind us of the importance of public administration institutions as well as other stakeholders in the private sector and civil society at community, national, regional, and global levels being prepared to ensure the continuity of delivery of vital public services during crises and in post conflict/crisis periods. This challenge is particularly daunting for developing countries and their capacity to achieve socioeconomic prosperity, including the MDGs. In fact, it has been documented that people furthest down the economic ladder live disproportionately in the most drought prone areas, that the overwhelming majority of people affected by climate related disasters live in developing countries, and that disaster-related deaths occur disproportionately in low and medium human development countries (UNDG Guidelines for Crisis and the MDGS
Policy Note ). It is mostly the poor and the vulnerable that suffer from different types of crisis. After a disaster occurs – whether it is caused by violent conflict or by a natural hazard- resources are quickly deployed to re-instate basic infrastructure and means of transportation for emergency relief while essential services including; medical services water, shelter, food, as well as education are severely curtailed. When such a situation is prolonged, it erodes the trust people have in public administration (Government) and undermines its legitimacy thus further risking instability and/or violence.
The EGM on “Achieving the MDGs in a Situation of Crisis: Lessons Learned on
Preparedness and Reconstruction” is aimed at creating a platform where “lessons learned” from catastrophe to recovery and reconstruction/transformation, may be shared to serve as an inspiration for countries to (i) devise and implement strategies for building and developing robust public administration institutions and systems of disaster preparedness to cushion populations against disastrous impacts of catastrophes and (ii) develop public administration capacities for better reconstruction and transformation of public service delivery systems that can withstand natural or even man-made disasters. It is understood that in situations where such capacities are lacking or weak, natural and man-made disasters drag the affected countries behind on the achievement of MDGs and development in general. Moreover, where gains have been made, the eruption of violence
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or the sudden occurrence of a natural disaster can represent a major set-back in a country’s road to development including the achievement of MDGs
The World is currently engaged in searching for effective ways through which countries can be 9i0prepared to face occurrences of violent conflict, crisis, and/or disaster, (ii) prevent/manage them and /or mitigate their negative impact on human livelihood, (iii) where they have occurred, reconstruct institutions and systems and other capacities of to sustain delivery of public services with minimum disruption. This forms the rationale and background of the Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting
III. OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP
The main objective of the workshop is to share the lessons learned and successful practices from recent experiences in public administration institutional capacities for preparedness, prevention, and reconstruction especially in tragic crises since the UN
World Summit in 2000 when the MDGs were launched.
The specific objectives are the following:

To present and discuss challenges and opportunities for strengthening public administration’s institutional capacities to ensure the effective delivery of public services in post conflict and crisis situations;
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To share successful experiences and practices in strengthening public service capacity to anticipate and manage conflict and crisis;
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To contribute to strengthening North-South and South-South cooperation to enhance public sector capacity building in the area of preparedness and reconstruction in pre-and post conflict/crisis situations
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To solicit and outline policy options and recommendations for; (i) a sustainable public service and its continuous functioning despite the occurrence of any upheaval or turmoil; (ii) how public administration institutional capacities can be developed to attenuate the devastating impact of disaster on the delivery of services and livelihoods of affected populations.
The ultimate goal of this workshop is to build a shared understanding among all actors involved in governance and public administration on what strategies and mechanisms can be adopted in crisis and post-crisis situations to ensure that basic public services are provided for the survival and safety of the affected population.
IV. FORMAT OF THE MEETING
The general purpose of this workshop is to allow participants to share and disseminate information about their respective experiences in introducing and implementing innovative practices in public administration’s preparedness for the delivery of public services in crisis and post conflict situations as well as in prevention and reconstruction.
Particular attention will be given to setting priorities in governance and public administration reconstruction and reform, as well as to specific methods for supporting the replicability and transfer of successful practices. Selected participants will be invited to present challenges and trends in this critical area, as well as innovative practices.
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Ample time will be devoted to in-depth discussion in break-out groups about issues that emerge during the discussion.
The workshop will focus on three distinct themes:
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Strengthening public administration institutional capacities for delivering public services in post-crisis and post-conflict situations;
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Strengthening public administrations’ capacities for delivering public services in countries facing natural disasters
Strengthening partnerships and civil society’s involvement in preparedness, conflict/crisis prevention, mitigation of the negative impact of crisis, conflict and/or disaster and reconstruction after conflict.
For each session an expert will be invited to provide an overview of the key challenges and trends within the specific sub-thematic area. Selected experts from countries that have been affected by violent conflict, crisis, and /or disaster will then present their own national case studies. The expectation is that case studies will outline the following: i) the nature of the crisis, such as: a catastrophic event, or a tragic violent conflict; ii) the magnitude of destruction, versus the former situation, focusing on the challenges related to public service delivery resulting from the impact of the event; iii) public administration preparedness before the event and responses after, toward recovery and reconstruction; iv) the lessons learned in terms of ‘what to avoid’, ‘successful initiatives and innovations’; v) the resulting transformation of public service.
There will also be three break-out groups in the afternoon of 22 June to allow for maximum discussion and to provide the opportunity to gather ideas about the development of future tools that can assist government in preparing for crisis situations or in reconstructing public administration after a crisis. The groups could be centred around the following three thematic areas, but other emerging issues may also be addressed as the discussion unfolds.
GROUP I - Effective Strategies for Post-conflict Public Administration
Preparedness for Conflict Prevention and Management as well as Reconstruction
Discussion on the implementation of strategies for building and developing robust public administration systems of conflict and post-conflict preparedness to cushion populations against the impacts of armed conflicts and development of capacities for better reconstruction and transformation of public service systems that can withstand armed conflicts. The group will also discuss recommendations on strategies and mechanisms to be adopted in crisis and post-crisis situations.
GROUP II - Effective Strategies for Public Administration Preparedness for
Preventing, Disasters and Mitigating their Impact as well as for Reconstruction after Disasters
General discussion on the implementation of strategies for building and developing robust systems of disaster preparedness to cushion populations against disastrous impacts of natural catastrophes and development of capacities for better reconstruction and transformation of public service systems that can withstand natural disasters. The group will also focus on providing recommendations regarding strategies and mechanisms to be adopted in natural disaster and post- natural disaster situations.
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GROUP III – The Way Forward
The group will discuss how to develop useful tool for governments facing crisis situations or crisis prone. a) General discussion, in preparation for a Global Forum on the subject area, including possible thematic areas; participants; speakers; resource mobilization and partners to be involved. b) Building an online Directory with cases of conflict situations and natural disasters. Key questions could include:
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Should we build such a directory?
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What will it contain?
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Who should be the target group?
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What modalities should we adopt to collect information?
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What institutions can help us to collect information?
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How should we structure it? c) Establishing a World Report on Public Administration Preparedness and
Reconstruction in Crisis Situations to monitor responses and provide guidelines.
Key questions for discussion could include:
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Would this publication be useful?
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What should it contain?
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How can we make it useful?
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What data should it include?
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Should it be a recurrent publication?
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Should it contain a roadmap for crisis preparedness as a tool kit? d) Development of an on-line training on crisis preparedness and reconstruction
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Would this tool be useful?
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What should it contain?
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Should it contain a roadmap for crisis preparedness as a tool kit? e) Development of a peer to peer knowledge sharing mechanism/programme (peer review mechanisms). Some key questions would include:

Should we create a Network to link governments from around the world that are affected by crisis to share knowledge?
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How can we help countries transfer knowledge on crisis preparedness and reconstruction?
V. EXPECTED RESULTS
The Workshop is expected to achieve the following goals:
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Improved understanding of the key success factors and strategies in delivering public services in crisis situations, and preparing for crisis;
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Increased knowledge of the challenges and success stories of public administration preparedness and reconstruction through the establishment of a
Knowledge Base containing best practices in strengthening capacity for the effective and efficient delivery public service in crisis situations;
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
Generate substantive reference documents to be accessible to interested countries and professionals in related fields;

Strengthened capacity to deliver public services in crisis and post- crisis situations through the discussion of key recommendations and policy options;
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Enhanced cooperation among countries in crisis situations or prone to crisis by establishing a network of professionals working in the area of crisis preparedness and reconstruction.
VI. PARTICIPANTS
The workshop will gather about 30 participants including representatives of governments, international organizations, academic and research institutions, and other experts in the field.
VII. ELECTRONIC NETWORKING
All the documents of the meeting will be posted on the Online Global Network on Public
Administration and Finance ( http://www.unpan.org
), which is a global networking tool that connects relevant international, regional, subregional, and national institutions worldwide for the promotion of better public administration and public financial management.
VIII. LANGUAGES OF THE EGM
The official languages of the EGM will be English.
CONTACT PERSONS:
 John Mary Kauzya
Chief, Governance and Public Administration Branch (GPAB)
Division of Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM)
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)
United Nations, New York
Email: kauzya@un.org
 Adriana Alberti
Coordinator of the United Nations Public Service Awards Programme
Governance and Public Administration Officer
Division for Public Administration and Development Management
United Nations, New York
Email: alberti@un.org
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