Note to Correspondents

UNITED NATIONS TO HONOUR WINNERS IN 12 COUNTRIES OF 2008 PUBLIC SERVICE

EXCELLENCE AWARDS ON PUBLIC SERVICE DAY, IN NEW YORK, 23 JUNE

 

The United Nations will award innovative approaches that improve the performances of public institutions at a ceremony at Headquarters on Public Service Day, Monday, 23 June.

The 2008 United Nations Public Service Awards will be presented to institutions in 12 countries where public services have made a difference in the day-to-day lives of ordinary persons.

This year’s winners are of diverse backgrounds, including an innovative and unique judicial approach in California, United States, geared towards preventing domestic and family violence; a development fund that allows villagers in Rwanda to contribute to assessing their own needs and establishing their development priorities; and a four-decade private-public partnership that guarantees affordable housing to most Singaporeans.

These institutions were found to have improved transparency, accountability and responsiveness in the public service.  They have also improved delivery of services and fostered participation in policymaking decisions through innovative approaches.

More than 300 participants, including United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro and Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang, will attend the annual ceremony.  Leaders whose institutions have won the United Nations Public Service Awards this year and in the past will also attend.  The event will be held in Conference Room 2 from 10 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

Institutions from six countries that made it to the finals and came close to winning will also be awarded a certificate of recognition on that day.

Other initiatives and celebrations highlighting public management contributions are being organized by many Governments around the world.  This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations Programme on Public Administration.

The Awards programme was established in 2003 to reward excellence and promote professionalism in the public sector around the world.  The United Nations Public Service Awards competition is open to all public organizations and agencies at national or subnational level, as well as to public-private partnerships.  There are three categories: improving transparency, accountability and responsiveness in the public service; improving the delivery of services; and fostering participation in policymaking decisions through innovative mechanisms.

For background information on Public Service Day and the Awards, please visit http://www.unpan.org/dpepa_psaward.asp, or contact Adriana Alberti, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, tel,: +1 212 963 2299, e-mail: alberti@un.org; or Olivier Munyaneza, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, tel. +1 212 963 8801, e-mail: munyaneza@un.org.

To arrange interviews with award winners and United Nations officials, please contact Franck Kuwonu tel.: +1 212 963 8264, e-mail: kuwonu@un.org; or Newton Kanhema, tel.: +1 212 963 5602, e-mail: kanhema@un.org, United Nations Department of Public Information.

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For information media • not an official record