The 2013 United Nations Public Service Awards (UNPSA) Programme is accepting nominations from 24 September 2012 to 7 December 2012. The UNPSA is an international recognition of excellence in public service and rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions that lead to a more effective and responsive public administration in countries worldwide and seeks to disseminate the initiatives for replication.
The award is open to all public organizations including Governments and public-private partnerships involved in delivering services to citizens around the globe. Your institution is welcome to nominate projects that have improved delivery of public services for the 2013 Public Service Awards, which will mark the tenth anniversary of the programme.
The Awards for 2013 will be bestowed in the following five categories:
* Preventing and Fighting Corruption in the Public Service
*Improving the Delivery of Public Services
*Fostering Participation in Policy-Making Decisions through Innovative Mechanisms
*Promoting Whole-Of-Government Approaches in the Information Age
*Promoting Gender Sensitive Public Service Delivery
A blog updating you on development issues with stories from around the world.
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Agricultural cooperatives - World Food Day theme
"Agricultural cooperatives – key to feeding the world" is the 2012 slogan for the upcoming World Food Day of next 16th October.
The World Food Day aims at raising awareness and understanding of approaches to ending hunger. the theme for this observance is usually announced each spring by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
- Cooperatives are member-driven, member-controlled and member-responsive organisations;
- Cooperatives are efficiently managed by experienced, trained and professionally qualified staff under the supervision and control of democratically-elected boards of directors;
- Principles of “accountability” and “answerability”, “role model”, ethical behaviour and good governance are employed; - Adherence to the “joint-use” concept e.g., joint marketing, joint purchasing, joint use of capital, joint use of facilities;
- Elected officials [board members including the presidents and auditors] are compensated. [It is assumed that honorary elected officials tend to be more expensive to the organisations. Besides, the era of honorary elected positions have gone, as not many people have neither the time nor the inclination to serve in such capacities];
- Cooperatives have integrated their operations with the needs of their memberhouseholds;
- Well-integrated vertical structures of cooperatives exist and these provide support in order to enable the base level cooperatives to effectively and efficiently service their individual members; the federal cooperatives provide advisory services,technical know-how and back-up support services;
- Cooperatives undertake comprehensive programmes for member education in order to facilitate the process of members’ participation, members’ involvement and empowerment; and for training of staff and members of boards of directors;
- Cooperatives undertake value-added operations: choose, assess and employ appropriate but advanced technologies; and forge forward integration in order to gain competitive advantage in the market place;
- Cooperatives establish viable and strong linkages with external research and development/ extension agencies in the field of agriculture and technology;
- Cooperatives strive to become self-reliant, accumulate capital and develop other resources in order to remain fee from all external controls and directions; and - Cooperatives are open, ethical, caring, and socially-aware institutions. They display social concern in their business operations and in their relations with customers, employees and members, and the community at large.
Friday, 21 September 2012
21 September, 2012 - International Day of Peace & ongoing conflicts
In occasion of the observance of the International Day of Peace, the United Nations Secretary General in its speech calls for a complete cessation of hostilities around the world.
The theme of this year's observance is "Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future". Ban ki-Moon stated "Armed conflicts attack the very pillars of sustainable development. Natural resources must be used for the benefit of society, not to finance wars. Children should be in school, not recruited into armies. National budgets should focus on building human capacity, not deadly weapons."
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| Official Logo for the 2012 IPD |
Major wars, 1,000+ deaths per year
Minor wars and conflicts, fewer than 1000 deaths per year
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