MEETING ON REFORM AND EFFICIENCY IN GOVERNMENT TO BE HELD IN WINDHOEK, 25-27 MARCH
Press Release
DEV/2103
MEETING ON REFORM AND EFFICIENCY IN GOVERNMENT TO BE HELD IN WINDHOEK, 25-27 MARCH
19960322 A regional African meeting on public administration and development, focusing on structural adjustment and improved efficiency in government, will be held in Windhoek from 25 to 27 March. It is the last in a series of meetings and conferences organized by the Department of Development Support and Management Services with various host countries in preparation of the resumed General Assembly session on public administration and development, to be held from 15 to 19 April.The Namibia meeting is co-sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Special Unit for Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries of the United Nations Development Programme, the Economic Commission for Africa and the Government of France. Participants will include government officials and public administrators from Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Togo and Uganda.
The Namibia meeting will examine the African States' process from structural adjustment to improved efficiency in government. The programme focuses on productivity, efficiency, accountability and responsiveness of the public service. Critical areas of civil service reform will be goal attainment and resource optimization in the context of proper institutional structures and adequate skills.
The exchange of experiences among African countries is expected to broaden methodological knowledge on performance indicators, the design and implementation of resource optimization plans and programmes, computation of remuneration and productivity indexes, and incentives and motivation packages. It will also provide for an appropriate training programme to enhance capacity building of human resource development, including South-South cooperation, particularly technical cooperation among developing countries. The findings of the meeting, including guidelines and recommendations on the role of public administration in development, will be submitted to the resumed Assembly session.
The resumed session will mark the first time that the General Assembly will address the relationship between public administration and development.
- 2 - Press Release DEV/2103 22 March 1996
In its resolution 49/136, the General Assembly decided to "examine the question of public administration and development, exchange experiences, review the activities of the United Nations in this field and make recommendations".
Pre-Assembly events and parallel meetings to the General Assembly session have been set up to facilitate the exchange of experience between the private and the public sector, as well as between different public organizations and agencies. An international technical forum is also scheduled to be held at Headquarters on 11 and 12 April. At a private sector colloquium, business persons from major regions of the world will recommend ways that government can collaborate with the private sector. At a professional colloquium, leading scholars and officials from development agencies will evaluate the role of public administration in development. At a ministerial-level executive session, cabinet ministers and other high-ranking officials will meet heads of United Nations agencies, funds and specialized programmes to compare experiences in restructuring government with the reform process at the United Nations.
A series of regional and international United Nations conferences, meetings and seminars have been held to prepare for the resumed Assembly session. A conference in Stockholm last October addressed the question of public administration and social development; and a Berlin conference in January examined the role of public administration in countries with economies in transition. The following three meetings were held this month: in Rio, on the role of public administration in the development of infrastructure and the protection of the environment; in Rome, on restoring government administrative machinery after situations of conflict; and in Manila, on the role of public administration in promoting economic development in Asia. Reports of all meetings will be available at the resumed Assembly session.
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