103.      At the Millennium Summit, world leaders highlighted the key role of effective, transparent and accountable governance in eradicating poverty and achieving the other objectives of the Millennium Declaration. In many parts of the world, citizens have increasingly demanded: a stronger voice in public policy; improved delivery of services;and greater openness and accountability in the way that governments function. Many governments have responded by: introducing reforms; strengthening public institutions; broadening citizen participation in governmental processes; and striving to deliver more and better services, particularly to the poor and most marginalized.

104.      The work of UN organizations in this area focuses on capacity-building to advance: decentralization; transparency and accountability; "engaged governance," which focuses on mainstreaming citizen participation in public policy; the application of information and communications technology (ICT); and strengthened capacities for data gathering and statistical analysis.

105.      Decentralized governance has increasingly drawn recognition as a key means of empowering local communities to fight poverty and to improve the delivery of essential services. UN agencies have supported decentralization in various ways-from providing technical advisory services and helping to enhance institutional and human capacities to supporting knowledge sharing, information exchange and the dissemination of best practices. Examples include:

• Inter-agency collaboration with the UN Centre for Regional Development to support government decentralization programmes, including on regional development planning and implementation, through training and skills-upgrading of public sector employees;⁽²²⁾

• UN-Habitat implementing campaigns, global programmes, regional and technical cooperation projects and other initiatives to improve urban governance in more than 40 countries, with the ultimate goal of improving the lives of slum dwellers;

• UNICEF, in partnership with the UN and UNFPA, helping raise awareness of the importance of birth registration and strengthened civil registration systems; and

• The collaborative work of OHCHR and UNDP designed to identify and to draw lessons from good governance practices that have had an impact on the promotion of human rights.

106.      UN organizations have engaged in related efforts to help countries promote transparent and accountable governance, with some key examples, including:

• UNDP devoting more than half of its global technical assistance expenditures to activities in this field and supporting efforts in 135 countries to build national capacities for improved and accountable governance;

• the World Bank's support for broad public sector governance reforms in many countries, through the strengthening of public financial management, public administration and accountability, and institutional checks and balances; and

• IMF's support for increased transparency and accountability in public sector governance, through larger budgetary outlays and monitoring government expenditures on poverty eradication programmes, as well as the provision of technical assistance in such areas as tax policy and administration, both in order to generate the resources needed for poverty eradication.

107.      The UN Secretariat, UNDP and ECA are stepping up support for the efforts of African governments, regional bodies and the NEPAD Secretariat towards transparent and accountable governance in Africa. A recent study by ECA, Striving for Good Governance in Africa, found that electoral processes in Africa have become more transparent, voter participation has increased to a high level and political parties have grown stronger.⁽²³⁾  The study also underscored the need for improvement in such areas as tax evasion and corruption; reform of the police and military; and independence of electoral commissions. It called for urgent action to strengthen parliaments, preserve judicial autonomy, improve public sector performance, support the development of professional media, encourage private investment and decentralize service delivery. At the regional level, UN system activities have included technical and advisory support to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) of the African Union and assistance to the African Governance Forum (AGF) in mobilizing governments and civil society to build networks of African practitioners engaged in governance.

108.      To help ensure that institutional and regulatory frameworks are in place to guard against corrupt practices, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has launched a global programme, in the context of the follow-up to UN Convention Against Corruption. With the World Bank, UNDP, OECD, regional development banks and bilateral development agencies, UNODC has initiated the establishment of the International Group for Anti-Corruption Cooperation (IGAC) to enhance coordination, undertake joint activities and develop a database of past, current and future anti-corruption projects and activities.

109.      "Engaged governance" is another key ingredient in advancing poverty eradication and broad-based development by promoting greater participation of citizens and civil society institutions in public governance. In many countries, policy-making is no longer confined to representative government and now engages a wide spectrum of civil society institutions. UN system organizations have supported broader citizen participation in governance by providing technical and advisory services and other forms of assistance; by promoting information sharing and dissemination of good practices; and by fostering partnerships with the private sector and civil society organizations. A noteworthy initiative in this regard is ILO's "Practical Guide for Strengthening Social Dialogue in Public Service Reform," which serves as a key instrument in the training of public service managers and other civil servants involved in reform programmes.

110.      UN organizations have actively promoted the use of information and communications technology (ICT) as a tool for strengthening public sector management and for improving the quality and delivery of public services:

• The United Nations Online Network on Public Administration and Finance (UNPAN), managed by UN-DESA, facilitates dialogue among various stakeholders, expanded collaboration among governments and access to research, training practices, methodologies and technical assistance projects in the field of public administration;⁽²⁴⁾ 

• UNCTAD is strengthening the debt management capacity of developing and transition economies through the use of a computerized debt-management system, which enables the concerned government ministries to establish a complete and up-to-date debt database, to provide timely and accurate debt statistics and to undertake appropriate debt analysis;

• A UN-DESA assistance programme on strengthening parliamentary information systems in Africa started in pilot form in a number of countries and is now expanding to the whole region;

• In partnership with the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development (CAFRAD) and the NEPAD Secretariat, UN-DESA is pursuing an e-Africa initiative to improve the capacity of African governments to make use of ICT for effective governance;⁽²⁵⁾ 

• SMART (Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsible and Transparent) governance, a World-Bank supported programme in Andhra Pradesh, India, makes use of the Internet to implement such reforms as "one-stop shops for citizen services" and digital registration of deeds; and

• The UN Centre for Regional Development is helping improve the skills and knowledge of African civil servants in ICT development and applications through training.

111.      Finally, UN organizations have joined forces to support countries in building statistical capacity, particularly in the analysis and monitoring of progress towards the achievement of the MDGs. (See also box 2.4, Tracking progress on the MDGs.) Examples of collaborative work in this area include:

• The UN, UNDP, World Bank, UNFPA and UN-Habitat have teamed up with governments, bilateral donors and civil society organizations to conduct training in such areas as the preparation of MDG indicators, use of alternative data sources and data analysis and methodologies;

• ECA is helping administer a comprehensive set of indicators in 30 African countries in order to capture major data on governance, including political representation, institutional effectiveness and accountability, economic management and corporate governance;

• The World Bank, the UN, UNDP, UNFPA and other system organizations have joined OECD in the project, "Partnership in Statistics for Development in the Twenty-First Century" (PARIS 21), which aims to improve statistical support for monitoring development goals;

• Several UN organizations are working together to plan for the next census round, from 2005 to 2010; and

• A new global partnership-Health Metrics Network-has been launched to facilitate better health information at the country, regional and global levels.

^22. The United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD), established in 1971 in Nagoya, Japan, conducts research and training in local and regional development, targeting developing and transitional economies. The Centre's rogrammes focus on socially and environmentally sustainable development.

^23. Striving for Good Governance in Africa,United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, 2005.

^24. Committed to integrity and excellence, UNPAN is designed to promote the sharing of knowledge, experiences and best practices throughout the world in sound public policies, effective public administration and efficient civil services, through capacity-building and cooperation among the Member States, with emphasis on South-South cooperation.

^25. CAFRAD is a Pan African intergovernmental organization, established in 1964 by African governments, with the support of UNESCO. It the first uniquely Pan-African training and research center in the continent for the improvement of public administration and governance systems in Africa. Its headquarters is located in Tangier, Morocco.