Note to Correspondents

United Nations Invites Nominations for 2011 Public Service Awards

 

as Competition Adds Gender, Anti-corruption Categories

 

The United Nations is calling for nominations for its Public Service Awards 2011, an international competition designed to promote and support innovations and public service delivery worldwide.

Open to all public organizations at the local and national levels, and to public-private partnerships involved in delivering services around the globe, the annual United Nations Public Service Awards (UNPSA) are bestowed on those public institutions that have distinguished themselves in the following categories: improving the delivery of services; fostering participation in policymaking decisions through innovative mechanisms; and advancing knowledge management in government.

Two new categories – promoting gender-responsive delivery of public services, and preventing and combating corruption in the public service – are being added to this eighth edition, reflecting a growth in recognition of the UNSPA.  “Promoting gender-responsive delivery of public services”, a partnership between the Division for Public Administration and Development Management in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, part of UN Women), will focus on gender in public administration.  “Preventing and combating corruption in the public service” will be managed in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime.

In his address to the 2010 United Nations Public Service Day, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted:  “In an era of increasingly complex challenges, from climate change to food insecurity and the financial and economic crisis, the world needs its public servants to be more creative and talented than ever.”

United Nations Public Service Day was established by the Economic and Social Council in 2003 to promote better delivery of services by Governments, and to encourage excellence in public service.  Through an annual competition, the United Nations Public Service Awards highlights cutting-edge innovations and recognizes that democracy and successful governance are built on a competent civil service.

Award recipients will be selected by the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration.  The winners of the 2011 Public Service Awards will each receive a trophy and a certificate of recognition during the United Nations Public Service Awards Ceremony and Day, on 23 June 2011.

Nominations can be made online at:  http://www.unpan.org/applyunpsa2011 until 31 December 2010.  While candidates cannot nominate themselves, interested institutions deemed to have performed very well in any one of the prize categories can have their names put forward by Governments and civil society organizations.

For background information about the United Nations Public Service Awards and past winners, please visit:  http://www.unpan.org/unpsa.

Contact Information:  Haiyan Qian, Director, Division for Public Administration and Development Management, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, qianh@un.org; John-Mary Kauzya, Chief, Governance and Public Administration, kauzya@un.org; or Adriana Alberti, Coordinator of the UNPSA Programme, +1 212 963 2299 and alberti@un.org.

Media contact:  Franck Kuwonu, Department of Public Information, +1 212 963 8264 or kuwonu@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record