“We hope 120 heads of state and Government in Rio”

March was a milestone in the countdown to Rio+20 while we crossed the cape and threshold of 100 days before the Conference. This is also when negotiations have really intensified on the Zero Draft of the Rio+20 Outcome Document released in January, based on 6000 pages of input from various stakeholders. Read more

Empowering local governance for global development

Achieving effective outcomes in local public administration has become increasingly challenging due to ever more complex and unpredictable environment in which governments operate, often with insufficient resources. The focus of  the eleventh annual session of the Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) will be on local government strategies for more results-oriented public governance. Read more

Promoting youth employment

As part of the preparatory process for the 2012 Annual Ministerial Review (AMR), The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) organised an exclusive event on 27 February 2012  in New York: “Breaking new ground: Partnerships for more and better jobs for young people”. “Youth joblessness leaves a deep scar that persists well into middle age. It is time for policy makers to become more focused on the structures that perpetuate unemployment. Read more

Technical reports

United Nations E-Government Survey 2012 

The 2012 edition of the United Nations E-Government Survey: E-Government for the People has been launched and is now available. The sixth in the series, it sheds light on the global state of e-government development and provides options on how best to move forward.  It particularly examines the institutional framework for e-government and finds that the presence of a national coordinating authority can help overcome internal barriers and focus minds on integrated responses to citizen concerns.  According to the 2012 survey rankings, the Republic of Korea is the world leader (0.9283) followed by the Netherlands (0.9125), the United Kingdom (0.8960), Denmark (0.8889), and the United States (0.8687).  Read more