The Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) will meet from 15 to 19 April for the twelfth annual session. The twenty-four CEPA experts on public administration will focus on the role of responsive and accountable public governance in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the post-2015 development agenda.
CEPA was established by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to support the Council’s work promoting and developing public administration and governance among Member States in connection with the Internationally Agreed Development Goals (IADGs). This year, the Committee will focus on the areas of making public governance work for the post-2015 development agenda; stakeholders’ accountability in public governance for development; and creating an enabling environment for development beyond 2015.
To facilitate the discussion, observers of CEPA, academia and NGOs in public administration will be responding to DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM), which is calling for inputs. The collection of inputs will be presented to CEPA for consideration in deliberation and report in its recommendation to ECOSOC. This is part of the ongoing discussion on the preparation of the post-2015 development framework in the UN system.
Public governance beyond 2015 and stakeholder accountability
CEPA Members Margaret Saner, Hyam Nashash, and Rowena G. Bethel will present their paper that focuses on the challenges ahead for public administrations in relation to the MDGs and other development goals beyond 2015. It examines how the emphasis on governance over the past few years has been interpreted at the local level. The paper focuses on the successes along with areas for improvement.
Another report by CEPA members Jan Ziekow and Francisco Longo will highlight the important role of accountability as an indicator of democratic governance and as an instrument to improve the performance of institutions and the delivery of services. Accountability plays a dual role in both public and private collaborations. Resources in such collaborative ventures should be well-managed and efficiently used.
Creating an enabling environment
CEPA members Bin Hao and Siripurapu Kesava Rao identified key components in their report, which will address the steps towards a successful post-2015 development agenda. The report underscores the need for an enabling environment, including human capital development in the public sector and performance reporting, monitoring and evaluation of public service delivery.
This need is also reaffirmed by Wu Hongbo, DESA’s Under-Secretary-General, who states, “in the recent Rio+20 Summit, democracy, good governance and the rule of law, at the national and international levels, as well as an enabling environment, were deemed essential for sustainable development. The Rio+20 Summit affirmed that to achieve sustainable development, we need institutions at all levels that are effective, transparent, accountable and democratic.”
Additionally, a conference paper by CEPA member Walter Fust on public-private partnerships in sustainable development and for social networking will be included in the discussion.
The meeting is also assisted by the PaperSmart initiative aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of the organization, and managed by the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM).
