Alyousuf: Arab Regional Forum will assist governments in improving their public services

On the second day of the forum, which was held at the Dubai School of Government, the participants stressed the critical role of sharing knowledge on innovations in governance, as well as communication among all stakeholders in the Arab region, especially the marginalized population segments such as orphans, elderly and disabled, as opposed to only the educated and intellectuals.

The delegates called upon the Arab World to leverage opportunities presented by the latest developments in technology to activate and speed up their services and administrative processes.

The forum was organized in collaboration with UNDESA, POGAR and UNDP and hosted by the Dubai School of Government, under the patronage of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Dubai Naturalization and Residency Department. The forum included presentations that concentrated on integrity, corruption and development in Arab countries.

A number of participants underlined the need to take advantage of information and communication technologies to improve public services.

Other areas of focus included the innovation of organizational structure, its practices and capacities and how it mobilizes, deploys and utilizes the human, material, information, technological and financial resources for service delivery and becoming a learning organization that is able to explore and find new and better ways of achieving its mission.

Mrs. Adriana Alberti, Chief Technical Adviser of the Programme for Innovation in Public Administration in the Mediterranean Region (InnovMed), Division for Public Administration and Develpoment Management in the United Nations, pointed out the importance of innovation in public administration, to meet the needs of all citizens.

Mr. Ahmed Saqer Ashoor, Administration Professor from the Business College of the University of Alexandria, gave an overview of corruption and reform scenes within government departments throughout the Arab region and how it affects governance.

Mr. Ashoor said,

"Various initiatives have been taken over the last two decades on the path of reform, inspired by the economic restructuring and reform policies including privatization that have been adopted by almost all countries of the region, in addition to the focus of public sector during that period on administrative modernization and reform".

The previous day also witnessed a vigorous input from Dr. Wendy Thompson, Dean of the School of Social Work at McGill University in Canada, who outlined the stages of managing the policy process.

She identified five practical policy tools, such as the development model, project management, aligning of resources, landscape mapping and end to end reviews.

Dr. Thompson clarified that no government could deliver its policy by itself, but it should rather rely on a series of people and institutions, special advisers, think tanks and public opinion polling and surveys.

Summing up the forum, Mr. Nabil Alyousuf, Executive President of the Dubai School of Government, explained that the event allowed participants from different Arab countries an opportunity to share other countries' experiences' and move ahead with developing the public services sector.

"It has allowed us to exchange experiences, success stories, and recommendations and suggestions. It has also allowed the regional governments and the participating countries to form a better view of how to achieve modern strategies, develop detailed structures, improve current mechanisms, and rectify faults inherent in the system"

The policy recommendations that emerge from the forum will be included in a report to be submitted to the Global Forum in Vienna in 2007.