22 April 2016: The 15th session of the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration discussed practical measures that governments can take to equip institutions to contribute to implementation and monitoring of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). CEPA also reflected on how public institutions can address the principle of leaving no one behind, as a contribution to the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).

The CEPA meets annually and is charged with supporting the UN Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) work to promote and develop public administration and governance among UN Member States.

This year’s meeting brought together independent experts from 24 countries, at UN Headquarters in New York, US, from 18-22 April 2016. It convened under the theme, ‘Moving from commitments to results: transforming public institutions to facilitate inclusive policy formulation and integration in the implementation and monitoring of the SDGs.’

The meeting addressed ways to ensure prioritization and decision-making that is fair, responsive, inclusive, participatory and accountable at all levels and ways to improve communication and engagement between governments and stakeholders, including through access to information, mobile solutions and open government. Participants supported strengthening citizen confidence in public administration through targeted efforts to use good governance to prevent, expose and tackle corruption, and highlighted the importance of transformative leadership and enhanced competencies of public servants. On monitoring and evaluation, participants stressed ensuring effective and innovative implementation and monitoring and impact evaluation.

Participants also considered how to enable public institutions and policies to support transformative actions towards the SDGs, including through promoting coherent, integrated public policies to benefit the poorest and most vulnerable and ensuring effective and innovative governance and responsive public service delivery. Participants noted the need to break down silos and address the interconnections among the SDGs.

“Transforming public institutions is essential to support the type of inclusive and integrated policies needed to realize the SDGs,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo said in his opening remarks.

A report from the meeting, with conclusions and recommendations, will be shared with ECOSOC and the HLPF. [DESA Press Release] [DESA Voice Article] [CEPA Website]