Publications

Targets for the Millennium Development Goals related to the global partnership to improve people’s lives and end poverty show mixed results on providing the poorest developing countries with greater access to aid, trade, debt relief, essential medicines and technologies, according to a new report launched today by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The lives of millions of people worldwide have improved due to concerted efforts – at the global, regional, national and local levels – to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Recent statistics show that with many MDG targets already met – including reducing poverty, increasing access to clean drinking…

E-government—digital interactions between governments and people—varies greatly among and within regions, but most countries are making progress on providing greater access, according to the 2014 UN E-Government Survey launched today. The findings show that the Republic of Korea tops the global e-government ranking, and that Europe remains first among regions.

The report also shows that many countries are expanding electronic participation, utilizing more mobile and social media tools, expanding usage and making more government data available online. However, challenges remain, such as lack of resources, digital inequalities and a lack of leadership for e-government.

“E-…

This publication provides an overview of 145 successful innovations in governance and public administration from 50 countries that received the United Nations Public Service Awards, which is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service. The purpose of this book is to disseminate, through descriptive case studies, information about innovative practices by looking at the problem that led to an innovation; the solution that was designed and implemented to respond to the specific challenge; the actors and steps involved in the innovation process, and lessons learned

The Compendium of Innovative Practices of Citizen Engagement by Supreme Audit Institutions for Public accountability provides an overview of successful examples and innovations in the engagement of citizens in public accountability processes through Supreme Audit Institutions. The purpose of this book is to disseminate, through comparitive case studies and analysis, and conceptual frameworks, information about innovative and successful practices. Learning more about how Supreme Audit Insititutions from around the world have successfully collaborated with citizens and civil society groups in the audit of how public resources are allocated and spent can be a powerful and inspirational tool…

The United Nations has updated a set of guidelines to prevent double taxation between countries, as well as to avoid tax evasion, which costs countries $3.1 trillion every year.

The UN Model Double Taxation Convention between Developed and Developing Countries (the UN Model) is used by countries as a basis for negotiation of their bilateral tax treaties.

Double tax treaties are agreements to prevent taxing income twice by allocating taxing rights over this income between two countries. These types of treaties play a key role in encouraging investment and technology transfer, while allowing governments to retain taxing rights over the money that comes from those investments…

“The increasing role of e-government in promoting inclusive and participatory development has gone hand-in-hand with the growing demands for transparency and accountability in all regions of the world,” said Sha Zukang, UN DESA Under-Secretary-General in the newly released United Nations E-government Survey 2012.

The survey, prepared by UN DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management, assesses Member States’ government web portals with a focus on the provision of e-information and e-services; these services include interactive, transactional, and e-participation features that connect governments and citizens.

Member States are ranked in accordance…

This publication provides an overview of 145 successful innovations in governance and public administration from 50 countries that received the United Nations Public Service Awards, which is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service.

The purpose of the series is to disseminate, through descriptive case studies, information about innovative practices by:

(i) looking at the problem that led to an innovation;

(ii) the solution that was designed and implemented to respond to the specific challenge;

(iii) the actors and steps involved in the innovation process, and

(iv) lessons learned. Learning more about how public…

Issued in support of the five-year review of the Mauritius Strategy of Implementation for the sustainable development of SIDS, the report highlights the vulnerabilities of SIDS and recent trends in their sustainable development. The key areas covered by the report are climate change, disaster management, trade and finance, tourism and energy. It also covers energy, natural resources and social development. In addition, the report provides a visual summary of progress made by SIDS in attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), based on analysis performed by UNDP and ESCAP.

The World e-Parliament Report 2010 examines how global and regional inter-parliamentary cooperation can exploit synergies among nations to help parliaments in developing countries bridge the digital divide by overcoming the barriers of limited resources and technical constraints. It proposes to the parliamentary and donor communities a shared framework for e-parliament based on strategic goals that serve democracy, good governance, and the attainment of the internationally agreed development goals.

The 2010 United Nations e-Government Survey: Leveraging e-government at a time of financial and economic crisis was completed in December 2009 and launched in early 2010. The report presented various roles for e-government in addressing the ongoing world financial and economic crisis. The public trust that is gained through transparency can be further enhanced through the free sharing of government data based on open standards.

Reconstructing Public Administration after Conflict

The 2010 World Public Sector Report brings to the fore a very critical issue - how to reconstruct public administration in post-conflict situations so as to enable it to promote peace and development in countries that have been affected by civil war and destruction. It is a question that has remained unresolved for decades and has brought poverty, despair, and death to people in many corners of the world. The Report shows that no progress can be made in promoting peace, development and protection of human rights unless appropriate governance and public administration institutions are established, leadership and human resources…

The present report recognizes that further progress has been made towards fulfilling the promises embodied in Millennium Development Goal 8 (MDG 8). At the same time, it identifies important setbacks, most of which have arisen from the current state of the world economy which is suffering its severest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Some donor countries are cutting their budgets for official development assistance (ODA); several developed and developing countries have resorted to protectionist measures; resurging debt distress is increasing the need for further and broader debt relief; the costs of essential medicines are on the rise; and the technological divide…