UN award winners should inspire governments to excel in public service – Migiro

The winners of this year’s United Nations public service awards should inspire governments around the world to step up their efforts to deliver vital basic services and improve the daily lives of their people, the Deputy Secretary-General said today.

“Governments around the world need to break with ‘business as usual’ and engage in ever more innovative ways of delivering public services and of organizing the way they function,” Asha-Rose Migiro said today at a Headquarters ceremony honouring the winners of the 2008 UN Public Service Awards.

She noted that while the private sector and civil society play a vital role in development, it is governments that have the “main role to steer development efforts and provide the necessary conditions for a stable, peaceful and prosperous society.

“It is governments that can ensure and facilitate access to quality services, such as health, education, sanitation facilities and water,” she added.

However, governments are facing a number of challenges, including the current food crisis, climate change and natural disasters, and are being challenged to do more with less and be more transparent and accountable. That is why the work of public institutions, such as this year’s winners, is so important, the Deputy Secretary-General noted.

“Your innovativeness and your leadership have made a meaningful difference in the lives of ordinary people. In your daily work, you found new and effective ways to deliver vital services to those in need,” she stated.

“Your exemplary initiatives should inspire all governments around the world – at all levels – to strive for excellence in public service,” added Ms. Migiro.

The award was established in 2003 to reward excellence and promote professionalism in the public sector around the world.

This year’s winners include Australia’s Job Access; Brazil’s Projeto Oficina-Escola de Artes e Ofícios de Santana de Parnaíba; India’s Programme of Communitization of Public Institutions and Services; Jordan’s Family Planning; Rwanda’s Common Development Fund; SADAD Payment System of Saudi Arabia; Singapore’s Home Ownership Programme; South Africa’s Transnet-Phelophepa Health Care Train; Spain’s Directorate General for Citizen Participation; Sweden’s Library 2007; Tunisia’s Orientation universitaire en ligne; and Juvenile Delinquency Domestic Violence and Family Violence Court of the United States.