Your Excellency Ambassador CHO Hyun,
Distinguished participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my honour to welcome you to the Side Event on “Innovating Public Governance and Leveraging Digital Technologies for Social Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups” during the 59th Session of the Commission for Social Development.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the UN for jointly organizing this important event as well as to the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation for their great support.
We are at a moment when promoting inclusion of vulnerable groups and ensuring leaving no one behind is more urgent than ever.
The poorest and most vulnerable groups are hardest hit by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reversed decades of progress in reducing poverty and inequality.
As Secretary-General António Guterres has highlighted, pursuing sustainable and inclusive recovery from COVID-19 and addressing the rising inequality are among his priorities for 2021.
Due to the far-reaching impact of COVID-19, the challenges confronting vulnerable groups, are becoming more complex, multi-faceted and severe. They have to contend with job loss, income reduction, and lack of access to essential public services, such as health care and education.
Governments must step up their efforts and deliver effective response, moving away from business-as-usual thinking and be imaginative and innovative in ensuring inclusive services to the vulnerable groups.
It calls for new ideas, concepts, and innovative approaches in policy design and service delivery.
It also requires a transformation in institutional mechanisms for collaboration and participation, more responsive organizational structures and processes, as well as innovative strategies and practices.
Against this backdrop, this Side Event today addresses how to innovate public governance and leverage digital technologies for promoting government innovation for social inclusion of vulnerable groups.
Allow me to share a few points to help stimulate the interactive discussion.
First, it is essential to engage vulnerable groups and promote their participation in policy design, implementation, and monitoring and review processes – experience has shown this is an effective pathway to identify and address the special needs of vulnerable groups.
Through their effective engagement and empowerment, vulnerable groups can be the agents of change and development.
At the same time, innovating public governance also requires engaging different stakeholders. Multi-stakeholder partnership can help governments marshal human, financial, and technical resources, tapping into the ideas, strategies, and solutions from the whole society.
Secondly, leveraging digital technologies can contribute to promoting social inclusion of vulnerable groups by enabling accessible and inclusive public service delivery to all, leaving no one behind.
Digital technologies and disaggregated data can support accurate and effective identification of vulnerable groups and their special vulnerabilities.
Advancing digital economy can create job opportunities, facilitate economic participation, and foster inclusive access to finance for marginalized populations.
Digital technologies can also provide platforms to facilitate engagement and participation of vulnerable groups and enhance public trust by avoiding misinformation.
During the COVID-19, Internet access has become a lifeline – but not for everyone. Many vulnerable groups lack access to the Internet and ICT devices. They also lack digital skills and literacy to harness the potential of digital technologies.
Governments must work with the whole of society to address the digital divide and promote digital inclusion through effective partnerships.
Thirdly, to foster government innovation for social inclusion of vulnerable groups, it is necessary to develop capacities, skills, and new mindsets of government officials at all levels and at societal level.
It requires a paradigm shift toward transformational leadership and inclusive mindsets in governance. Not easy. But necessary! DESA worked at what we believe is a useful tool to support this shift.
Today, we will introduce the Training Toolkit on “Government Innovation for Social Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups”, which is part of UN DESA’s Curriculum on Governance for the SDGs.
This Toolkit aims to provide a useful tool for public servants who need to acquire innovative strategies and approaches to promoting social inclusion of vulnerable groups.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I hope that this Side Event can serve as a meaningful opportunity to share innovative approaches, strategies, and experiences among countries.
I wish you a fruitful discussion and a successful event.
Thank you.