Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly recognised as a facilitator in enhancing the efficiency, accessibility and effectiveness of services in nearly every aspect of our lives, including the delivery of government services. As governments look to incorporate AI into their online tools and platforms, consideration must be given to ensure that services are ethical, transparent, unbiased and accountable. This session will discuss the increasingly central role that AI will play in government over the coming decades, exploring its great potential while also discussing steps necessary to mitigate potential risks.

Amid intricate and interconnected global challenges, this plenary session will delve into strategies for rejuvenating global partnerships to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Challenges such as climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inequality, growing nationalism, and diminishing trust in national and multi-lateral institutions, have posed immense threats to global cooperation. There is a pressing need to intensify efforts to revive partnerships for sustainable development by recommitting to multilateral collaboration, leveraging technology for the achievement of sustainable development, and harmonising policies and efforts. The multi-stakeholder panel will explore the concrete and tangible actions needed to revitalise partnerships for sustainable development.

Room: 101
Co-organised by DPIDG/ISDGB and UNDP
 
The increased presence and leadership of women in both national and subnational public administration not only advances gender equality but is also essential for fostering responsive and accountable public governance. Amidst the concerning lack of tangible progress on gender equality, enhancing women's involvement in leadership and decision-making within the public sector gains added significance in expediting change by 2030. Yet, significant underrepresentation of women persists, particularly in decision-making roles, hindering progress towards gender parity.
 
In this context, the workshop offers a collaborative platform to showcase capacity development outcomes and share insights on advancing gender responsiveness in public administration. It aims to promote women's involvement in leadership roles in government and enhance responsiveness in public agencies. The workshop will contribute to the overarching theme of developing institutional, human, and technological capacities within the public sector to support SDG implementation, fostering innovation, and ensuring responsive service delivery amid global challenges.

Session 1: Strategies to Promote Gender Equality in Public Administration – Lessons Learned in Africa
14:30 – 16:00, Monday 24 June 2024

This session will explore the process adopted by project countries in Africa regarding the development of an action plan to promote gender equality at national and subnational levels of public administration. The session will closely follow the structure of Session 1, with a specific focus on the experiences in Africa.


Session 2: Strategies to Promote Gender Equality in Public Administration - Lessons Learned in Asia and the Pacific
16:15 – 17:30, Monday 24 June 2024

This session will describe the experience of project countries in Asia regarding the development of an action plan to advance gender equality in the public sector. It will examine strategies to enhance the presence and leadership of women, addressing barriers to their participation and advancement both at the national and subnational levels of government. The session will also assess the impact of initiatives aimed at achieving gender equality in the public sector, considering their contribution to sustainable development and the realization of inclusive governance objectives.


Session 3: Strategies for Advancing Gender Equality in Public Administration
11:15 – 12:30, Tuesday 25 June 2024

This session will delve into the practical aspects of implementing strategies for advancing gender equality within public administration. Drawing on real-world examples and case studies, speakers will share insights into effective strategies, challenges encountered, and lessons learned during the implementation process. Discussions will cover topics such as policy development, institutional reforms, capacity building and monitoring mechanisms.


Session 4: Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions
14:00 – 15:00, Tuesday 25 June 2024

This session will present the UNDP Gender Equality Seal as a tool for advancing gender equality within public institutions worldwide, aiming to dismantle discriminatory norms by improving skills in delivering gender-responsive policies. The Seal sets standards and benchmarks, guiding institutions to integrate gender perspectives throughout the policy cycle and organisational structures. Additionally, it encourages participation and accountability and assesses policy impacts.


Session 5: Key Messages for the UNPSF Report
15:00 – 15:45, Tuesday 25 June 2024

The session will provide a concise summary of the conclusions drawn from earlier sessions of the workshop. Participants will engage in a discussion to identify key messages that will be presented in the plenary session on the last day of the UN Public Service Forum. Led by the workshop rapporteur, this collaborative effort will ensure that significant insights and recommendations are captured and integrated into the Forum’s Rapporteur’s Report.


Session 6: Gender-Responsive Public Services
16:00 – 17:30, Tuesday 25 June 2024

This session will assess how gender-responsive approaches to service provision contribute to sustainable development. Discussions will explore the effectiveness of such approaches in ensuring equitable access to essential services and addressing the diverse needs of all individuals, thereby promoting inclusivity and leaving no one behind. The session will also investigate the interconnection between greater representation of women in leadership positions and gender-responsive service delivery.


Session 7: Guidance on Drafting and Implementing an Action Plan on Gender Equality in Public Administration
09:30 – 11:20, Wednesday 26 June 2024

This session will provide guidance on formulating and executing action plans aimed at promoting gender equality within public administration. Participants will gain practical insights into the drafting process and effective implementation strategies. Expert speakers will share insights from good practices, tools, and resources to develop and implement impactful strategies to advance gender equality at both national and subnational levels of public administration.


Session 8: Conclusion and Recommendations
11:35 – 12:15, Wednesday 26 June 2024

This final session will summarise key conclusions and messages from earlier workshop discussions. Participants will collaborate to distil actionable recommendations for advancing gender equality within public administration.

Organised by DPIDG/PSIB
 
As the world struggles with increasingly volatile conditions, engaging young people in government is more crucial than ever. Not only does doing so help foster an active and engaged citizenry, for now and the future, but it also allows public administrations to exploit the vastly untapped resource of youth talent, skills, insights, and capacity to innovate, particularly, but not only, in the technological realm. This workshop will look at how to better engage young people in a life of public service. In doing so it will: discuss the unique talents and insights that young recruits can bring to the public service; examine the barriers to young people’s recruitment and career growth; explore how to attract and retain young public servants; discuss how to foster and leverage young people’s distinct perspectives and capacity to innovate and lead in government settings; and will share experiences and good practices globally.

Session 1: The young public servant in context - Understanding the challenges, barriers, and opportunities young public servants face
14:30 - 15:45, Monday 24 June 2024

This session will begin by examining the current situation of young public servants, notably the barriers they encounter when trying to enter and while starting their careers in the public service. It will then go on to examine why and how more young people should and can be attracted to the public service and the necessity of their active engagement in driving transformation and innovation in the public sector.


Session 2: Attracting and recruiting young talent to the public service for a future ready public service
16:15 – 17:30, Monday 24 June 2024

This session will explore concrete actions, initiatives and strategies that can be implemented to better attract and recruit young people to the public service. Drawing on examples of good practices, the session will focus on actions and initiatives in the area of recruitment.


Session 3: Retaining young public servants through an innovative and flexible public administration
11:15 – 12:30, Tuesday 25 June 2024

Nurturing the careers of public servants from entry-level onwards is central to ensuring retention of talent. This session will focus on how innovative working methods, structures, and schemes can better leverage the skills and talents of young public servants and safeguard against a ‘brain drain’ of young talent to other sectors.


Session 4: Fostering dynamic leadership at all levels
14:00 – 15:15, Tuesday 25 June 2024

This session will look at how leadership can be fostered throughout the career of the public servant with a focus on entry through mid-level, while also examining the mindset changes needed for those in higher positions, or current leaders, to embrace and enable such change. The session will then end by drawing on conclusions, key messages and recommendations from all the previous sessions.


Session 5: Conclusion and recommendations
15:15 – 15:45, Tuesday 25 June 2024

This session will draw on conclusions, key messages, and recommendations from all the previous sessions. The workshop rapporteur will lead a discussion among participants to identify key messages that will feed into the Forum’s outcome Report.

Organised by DPIDG/PMCDU
 
Recognising the urgency highlighted by global leaders during the 78th session of the General Assembly and the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration, as well as the High Impact Initiative on ‘FutureGov’ to build public sector capabilities for the future and ‘unlock accelerated delivery of the SDGs’, the workshop on 'Changing Mindsets: Cultivating Systems Thinking and Foresight' aims to bring about a paradigm shift in public sector leadership. By championing systems thinking and foresight, the workshop's goal is to empower leaders to navigate crises, foster collaboration, and stimulate innovation in the public sector.
 
Additionally, the workshop will examine strategies and roadmaps to promote these mindsets through changes in the public sector at the individual, organisational, and institutional levels. The workshop is expected to strengthen public sector leaders' capacities to become responsive agents of change in the face of evolving challenges, by meeting current needs while also anticipating and adapting to an evolving landscape, contributing to the realisation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Session 1: Building Foundations
14:30 - 17:30, Monday 24 June 2024

This session will introduce participants to the essential concepts of systems thinking, foresight, and innovation. The session will engage in discussions exploring the significance of these approaches within the public sector context. Case studies will also be highlighted to showcase how to apply these methodologies in real-world scenarios within the public sector.


Session 2: Implementing Change
11:15 – 15:40, Tuesday 25 June 2024

This session will concentrate on developing strategies and roadmaps aimed at fostering strategic foresight and innovation mindsets in the public sector. Through interactive sessions, participants will explore practical applications of these strategies at different levels – individual, organisational, and institutional. The session will incorporate group discussions and action planning, providing participants with a collaborative platform to exchange insights and formulate actionable plans for implementing change within their respective contexts.

 

Organised by DPIDG/DGB
 
The world is entering the digital-hybrid age. Digital transformation is now unleashing previously unfathomable opportunities for sustainable development. Recent crises have also revealed the vitality of digital solutions to address isolation and keep people informed and engaged, as seen in the recent development trends and analytical data revealed through the UN E-Government Survey. Given that there are both immense opportunities and inherent risks on what digital innovation can bring about, the need to address emerging requirements, risks and challenges for digital public policies and to ensure inclusive multistakeholder engagement has become more critical, especially for countries with special needs, including the least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing States (SIDS), landlocked developing countries (LLDC), and economies in transition.
 
This workshop will explore policy options and use cases on how countries can leverage on innovations through digital transformation, enhancing institutional, policy and technical capabilities and capacities in the process. It will share lessons learned, including both success and failure in addressing innovation strategies in the age of digital transformation. In this regard, it will develop the innovation capacity of developing countries, in particular LDCs, SIDS, LLDCs and economies in transition, to participate in, and benefit from, the growing opportunities of digitalisation while mitigating the risks.

Session 1: AI Regulatory Sandboxes and Policy experimentation as an innovative approach to digital transformation
14:30 – 16:00, Monday 24 June 2024

The session will address the main trends in AI development and use of sandboxes and policy experimentation to support technology adaptation in public sector through expert presentations and panel discussions.


Session 2: Presentations from UNPSA Initiatives or country case-studies in AI sandboxes
16:30 – 17:30, Monday 24 June 2024

Inviting countries such as the Republic of Korea, Lithuania and Colombia to speak, this session will ask questions such as what problems have been addressed through AI solutions in each country? What were the key challenges? And what are the key recommendations?


Session 3: Lessons learned from applying regulatory sandboxes and policy experimentation in Bangladesh, Maldives and Kazakhstan
11:15 – 12:30, Tuesday 25 June 2024

What are the key take-aways from the implementation of the joint UN DESA-ESCAP project on regulatory sandboxes?


Session 4: Conclusion and Recommendations
14:15 – 15:45, Tuesday 25 June 2024

This session will draw on conclusions and outcomes as well as key messages and recommendations from all the sessions of the workshop. The workshop rapporteur will lead a discussion, among participants, to identity key messages that will feed into the Forum Rapporteur’s report on the last day.

Organised by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety of the Republic of Korea
 
As the world faces more frequent and intense natural disasters and the profound impacts of climate change, its related dramatic events are already being felt around the world and are only expected to worsen in the coming years. These changes not only exacerbate the frequency of disasters but also heighten their severity, affecting vulnerable communities disproportionately.
 
Recognising the interconnected nature of climate change and disasters, there is an urgent need for a collective, cross-border response. Simultaneously, the advent of digital technology provides unparalleled opportunities to strengthen resilience against disasters and climate change. From early warning systems and predictive analytics to remote sensing and data-driven decision-making, digital solutions are integral in preparing communities and mitigating the impact of disasters.
 
The primary objective of the workshop is to explore existing frameworks for international cooperation in disaster management, assess their effectiveness, and identify areas for improvement. Additionally, the workshop will discuss how digital tools can be harnessed to tackle immediate disaster challenges and proactively mitigate potential risks. By bringing together diverse perspectives, expertise, and experiences, the session seeks to uncover innovative solutions that have the potential to revolutionise disaster response mechanisms, fostering resilient and sustainable communities. Topics include tailored cutting-edge technology for landslide response, integrated systems for water-related disasters, and effective disaster response governance, etc.

Session 1: Climate Crisis: Challenges and opportunities in disaster risk management and resilience building
14:30 – 16:00, Monday 24 June 2024

This thematic session focusses on the challenges and opportunities within the domain of disaster risk management and resilience building, precipitated by the climate crisis. Participants will deliberate on the severity of the climate crisis and explore new strategies, including cutting-edge technologies and community-based resilience initiatives, aimed at preparing for the era of climate crisis.


Session 2: Inclusive Governance and Community-based Resilience
16:15 – 17:30, Monday 24 June 2024

This session will explore the concept of “Inclusive Governance of Community-based Resilience”, empowering local entities and communities to proactively engage in disaster risk reduction efforts. Through inclusive governance, decentralised decision-making, community participation & capacity building, and innovative policy frameworks, this session aims to underscore the significance of promoting diversity and equity in disaster management and local resilience-building through collaborative and participatory governance.


Session 3: Science & Technology Innovation for Responding to Landslides and Urban Floods
11:15 – 12:30, Tuesday 25 June 2024

This specialised session delves into the utilisation of science and technology for landslide and flooding management. By harnessing AI algorithms, satellite imagery, weather forecasts, and sensors, the session aims to underscore how technology can elevate early warning systems, facilitate risk assessment, provide decision support, and streamline post-disaster assessment in areas prone to landslides and flooding.


Session 4: Novel Approach for Climate Crisis
14:15 – 15:45, Tuesday 25 June 2024

In this thematic session, participants will discuss innovative strategies and methodologies aimed at addressing the challenges posed by climate change and enhancing global resilience. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, technological advancements, and novel policy frameworks, these new approaches transcend traditional mitigation and adaptation measures, offering transformative solutions for a more sustainable future.

Organised by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Personnel Management of the Republic of Korea, National Information Society Agency (NIA) and Korean Local Information Research & Development Institute (KLID)
  
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into public administration is fundamentally reshaping the governance landscape, offering enhanced efficiency and citizen services. Generative AI-based administrative services have revolutionised the way of service delivery by providing timely and accurate service to citizens while empowering public officials to enhance overall productivity and convenience.
 
A stable implementation of AI-based administrative services demands a systematic, step-by-step approach. Governments are tasked with navigating the intricate intersection of technological advancement, privacy considerations, and ethical principles to ensure the successful deployment of AI systems in public administration. The core principles of AI ethics - fairness, transparency, and trustworthiness - are more actively required in the public sphere, as they also correspond to the main purpose of public administration.
 
This interactive workshop will look into key themes critical for understanding the impact of AI integration in public administration. Topics of focus include the dramatic transformation in public service, identifying AI opportunities, AI-based HR digital transformation, citizen engagement, and collaborative solution development, amongst others.

Session 1: Harnessing AI to Enhance Effectiveness of Work in Government
14:30 – 16:00, Monday 24 June 2024

In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, AI stands as a transformative force with immense potential to renew governance and public administration. This session aims to delve into the multifaceted applications of AI in work in government, exploring how it can enhance efficiency, improve decision-making, and foster innovation across various sectors.


Session 2: Expanding the Potential Areas of AI in Public Administration
16:15 – 17:30, Monday 24 June 2024

In this session, the participants will look into current cases of AI implementation in public administration and propose specific areas where AI adoption will be needed in the future government. The objective of the session is to anticipate the future landscape of public administration following AI implementation across various sectors and discuss the changing role of government in response to these developments.


Session 3: AI-based HR Digital Transformation: Shaping the future
11:15 – 12:30, Tuesday 25 June 2024

AI is already applied in numerous industries and is generating a big wave of change in the workforce structure as it replaces human manpower and jobs. In this regard, requirements in the future should be forecasted at the national level so as to develop AI-based HR policies. This session explores the transformative potentials of AI in HR in the public sector. Through expert presentations, engaging discussions, and interactive case sharing, participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of key trends, innovative solutions, and successful implementation strategies for AI-based HR practices. In addition, the AI-based HR cases of the Korean government such as Intelligent Open HRD Platform, HR Management System (e-Saram) and Integrated Recruitment System will be introduced.


Session 4: AI in the Public Sector: Potential and Pitfalls
14:15 – 15:45, Tuesday 25 June 2024

This session will explore considerations and potential risks to be mindful of when implementing AI in public administration. Additionally, it will look into technological and legal limitations associated with AI and ethical concerns and discuss strategies for overcoming these challenges.

Organised by DPIDG/UNPOG
 
Tackling climate change demands a paradigm shift in mitigation and adaptation measures, financing, institutional arrangement and coordination across national, regional, and local levels. Frontier technologies and digital transformation have emerged as powerful catalysts to facilitate this shift, fostering collaboration, transparency, and data-driven decision-making across governance levels, as highlighted by the UN E-Government Survey 2022. The UN system has identified six transitions where game changing interventions are needed. Rooted in the 17 Goals, these transitions represent a useful organising frame that can spotlight investment pathways to accelerate SDG progress within and across countries, with the prevailing country context determining the priority level and action accorded to each area. To drive these transitions, government actors at all levels are urged to work collaboratively across ministries and engage civil society and private sectors in an inclusive and participatory manner, incorporating principle of effective governance, to identify synergies and trade-offs. One of the transitions is climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution which requires strengthening public institutions through transformed policy and regulatory frameworks and through enhanced national public sector capabilities to deliver and implement climate policy action. This hands-on workshop aims to equip public institutions at all levels in developing countries with tools to effectively address climate change through improved multilevel governance practices, innovative digital solutions, and strategic foresight.

Session 1: Multilevel Governance for Climate Action
14:30 – 16:00, Monday 24 June 2024

The session aims to support the workshop’s participating countries in identifying transformative actions that contribute to building strong institutions and strengthening multilevel governance for climate action and SDGs implementation, including through empowering subnational governments in their efforts to localise climate action.


Session 2: Harnessing Digital Solutions in Public Institutions for Climate Action
16:15 – 17:30, Monday 24 June 2024

The session aims to explore how digital solutions, such as Artificial Intelligence, can leverage key opportunities to strengthen public institutions involved in climate action, thereby improving policy outcomes and engaging stakeholders towards a more sustainable and resilient future.


Session 3: Strategic Foresight for Climate Action
14:15 – 15:45, Tuesday 25 June 2024

This session focusses on how public institutions can create more future-ready policies and strategies by promoting strategic foresight and integrating scenario planning into existing policy processes. This session also showcases innovative forward-looking strategies to improve policy planning, tackle climate change and build resilience.