13 November 2023 - “Good governance and effective public institutions are not an end in themselves, but a critical foundation for securing the transformational changes required to achieve the SDGs,” said UN DESA’s Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development Mr. Navid Hanif during the launch of the latest World Public Sector Report 2023 on 9 November 2023.
Titled “Transforming institutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals after the pandemic”, the new report explores three main questions focusing on governments abilities to enhance trust, assess priorities and policy trade-offs and mobilizing innovations to transform the public sector and achieve the SDGs.
“Trust begets trust,” stressed Mr. Hanif as he further described the main action areas presented in the report. “Governments can greatly improve their credibility with the people, including by engaging and empowering non-State stakeholders in society,” he said.
The new report examines the role public sector innovations and changes that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, can play in advancing progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“During the pandemic, public institutions across the world, out of necessity, had to experiment and innovate. New ways of delivering critical public services through collaboration with non-State actors were found,” said David Le Blanc, who coordinated the report in UN DESA’s Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government, as he discussed the new report and how it was developed.
Moderated by Lisa Morrison, Acting Head of UN DESA’s Strategic Planning and Communication Services (SPCS), the launch event featured interventions by a panel of experts, discussing a range of topics including the need to prioritize gender equality and equal representation, how governments can build trust, especially for marginalized groups, to the accountability of governments’ financial resources. The panel had a lively debate and shared many creative suggestions in response to the audience's questions.
Throughout the launch webinar, the theme of leveraging innovations to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, took center stage of the discussions.
“As we seek to accelerate actions to achieve the SDGs, the recommendations from this year’s World Public Sector Report must be used by the decision makers to empower the public sector,” said Mr. Hanif.
“Governments need to embrace innovation and ensure that public institutions are well positioned to pursue the timely realization of the 2030 Agenda for people, planet, and prosperity.“
Download and explore the report here:
Watch a recording of the launch event: