UN DESA Policy Brief No. 194: Decent work in the platform economy: Governing digitally managed labour markets

Digital transformation is reshaping labour markets by changing what work is done and transforming how work is governed. Platform-mediated work is a visible example, with an estimated 154 million to 435 million people globally engaged in app-based and online labour markets worldwide. Ensuring decent work in the platform economy requires stronger labour market institutions—including clearer rules on employment status and employer responsibility, greater transparency and human oversight in automated decision-making. It also requires adapting social protection systems to fragmented and volatile work.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 191: Institutionalizing foresight: integrating futures thinking into public sector planning

Strategic foresight and strategic planning work best together, creating an adaptive governance system that manages current volatility while preparing for future uncertainties, accelerating progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and shaping the post-2030 development framework. When foresight is properly embedded, organizations become more resilient, anticipate disruptions earlier, and make demonstrably better strategic choices under uncertainty.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 190: Making subsidiarity work in practice: engaging subnational authorities to advance the 2030 Agenda

Subsidiarity supports the exercise of public functions at the level of government best placed to respond effectively to people’s needs. This policy brief distills key insights from five UN CEPA strategy guidance notes to illustrate how subsidiarity can be operationalized to strengthen the engagement of subnational authorities in advancing the 2030 Agenda.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 188: Accountable and efficient public procurement in times of crisis to prevent corruption

This Policy Brief analyses the heightened risk for corruption in public procurement in emergency situations and how to promote a balance between efficiency and accountability; examines legal and institutional frame-works that enable transparent and efficient procurement during crises; and explores the role of behavioural insights in strengthening procurement systems, as well as highlights innovative digital and e-procurement approaches.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 185: Beyond promises: The critical role of Supreme Audit Institutions in strengthening climate accountability

This brief examines the role of SAIs within the climate accountability ecosystem, the evolution of cli-mate auditing, key findings, recommendations, and examples of impact. Despite progress in institutional frameworks and transparency, audits reveal persistent governance gaps—unclear roles, weak coordination, and inadequate monitoring—that threaten delivery on national and global climate commitments. Where audit recommendations have been implemented, they have strengthened planning, oversight, and policy coherence, helping countries move closer to their climate goals.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 184: The erosion of trust: A threat to social progress

Trust is central for societies, the State, and markets to function. It is key to building and maintaining social cohesion, as it promotes cooperation between groups of people as well as between people and the State. Trust is also fundamental to foster international cooperation and achieve the SDGs. However, evidence shows that trust in institutions is in crisis: more than half of the world’s population reports little or no trust in their government. Restoring people’s trust is essential to repair the social fabric, mitigate rising polarization, accelerate social progress and achieve global goals.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 181: The role of supreme audit institutions in leaving no one behind

External audits can help Governments increase effectiveness and efficiency by identifying who is left behind and how, through recommendations in areas such as data systems and capacity-building. External audits can help Governments improve the responsiveness of programmes, services and public finance to the needs and views of all segments of the population through recommendations in areas such as planning and stakeholder engagement.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 177: Unlocking external audits: how supreme audit institutions contribute to effective, transparent and sustainable fiscal systems for the SDGs

Effective and transparent public financial management is crucial for building trust in public institutions and mobilizing and effectively spending additional resources for sustainable development. Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) provide critical information and evidence to inform assessments of the performance of national fiscal systems, including in relation to SDG implementation, and to enhance the effectiveness of fiscal systems for sustainable development.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 175: The important contribution of Supreme Audit Institutions to SDG implementation, follow up and review

Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) play a key role in support of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. As established domestic accountability institutions, they contribute to improving government performance by informing national monitoring and evaluation systems with independent evaluations of the effectiveness of policies and programmes related to the SDGs, and increasingly by assessing government’s performance on national SDG targets. Both at the national and international level, there is scope for better leveraging the information produced by SAIs on SDG implementation.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 174: Leveraging strategic foresight to mitigate artificial intelligence (AI) risk in public sectors

By leveraging collective intelligence and scenario planning, strategic foresight exercises can help ensure that AI technologies are developed and deployed responsibly, thereby increasing the likelihood of their positive contribution to sustainable and inclusive growth. Such forward-thinking methodologies are critical to mitigating risks and harnessing AI’s transformative power in advancing the SDGs.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 165: What assets and innovations can governments mobilize to transform the public sector and achieve the SDGs?

Through investment in transformative public-sector change programmes, government agencies and organizations and personnel can unlock their capabilities to go beyond merely responding to disruptions. Fostering transformation and adaptive mindsets will be key to enabling them to anticipate and effectively address the pressing challenges within their societies, even in complex and dynamic environments.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 164: The integrated nature of the Sustainable Development Goals as a lever for trust, institutional resilience and innovation

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 162: Multilevel Governance for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

Effective climate action requires multilevel governance and coordination across national, regional, and local levels of government, as well as with non-state actors, to maximize synergies and ensure inclusive, coherent approaches. By integrating equity into governance arrangements at all levels, global, national and local stakeholders can foster a more effective and sustainable response to climate change.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 157: How Can Governments Strengthen Their Relationships with Society to Meet the Sustainable Development Goals? Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked innovation and experimentation in public institutions. Institutional and policy changes can improve Governments’ relationships with other actors and highlight opportunities to accelerate SDG progress. Renewed social contracts, built on trust, are crucial if societies are to meet today’s compounding challenges, better respond to future crises, and achieve the SDGs.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 156: Enhancing Public Institutions’ Risk-informed Communication to address Multifaceted Crises for Disaster Risk Reduction, Resilience and Climate Action

The ability to provide accurate, timely, and reliable information to the public and responders in crises situations is central to risk-informed communication. This brief seeks to examine how to strengthen risk-informed communication for addressing multifaceted crises management, disaster risk reduction, and climate action. It identifies key challenges for strengthening government institutions that are responsible for effective communication, provides guidance on how to integrate risk-informed communication strategies into disaster management and proposes policy recommendations.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 149: Promoting Youth Participation in Decision-Making and Public Service Delivery through Harnessing Digital Technologies

Public institutions shall take policy measures to address challenges and build an enabling ecosystem for youth engagement and participation, with a focus on bridging the youth digital divide and supporting digital skills development of youth.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 148: Beneficial ownership information: Supporting fair taxation and financial integrity

Public collection of beneficial ownership information, usually through a registry, is now the global standard, and all countries should build effective registries as quickly as possible. Further work remains to harmonize implementation, close loopholes, and ensure effective exchange of information.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 139: Strengthening Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience for Climate Action through Risk-informed Governance

Ensuring risk-informed governance for climate action requires citizen-centric approach through the whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches including the leverage of government innovation and frontier technologies for DRR and resilience.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 136: Promoting non-discrimination in public administration: some entry points

The promotion of non-discrimination needs to be formally mainstreamed throughout public administration. This brief examines a limited selection: citizens’ charters, public procurement, positive duties, institutional culture, artificial intelligence, workforce diversity, schools of public administration, and public audits.

UN DESA Policy Brief No. 135: Cryptoassets and so-called “stablecoins”: Where do we go from here?

While they have been touted for their potential to increase the efficiency of financial transactions and to support financial inclusion, their high volatility and largely unregulated and quasi-anonymous nature has raised concerns over investor protection and financial integrity, and increasingly also financial stability and international spillovers.