Conference Agenda

The world’s population passed 8 billion in late 2022 with much of the increase concentrated in ever-expanding urban areas where more than 80 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is generated. By 2030, 60 percent of people will live in urban areas. These cities, towns, and settlements are already home to many of the world’s development challenges – as well as many of its opportunities.

A series of compounding challenges – economic, social, and environmental – has meant an unprecedented period of uncertainty for many urban areas. Climate-fueled disasters are becoming more frequent, intense, and unpredictable for urban communities. At the same time, local authorities are striving to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and other systems-wide crises, such as water, food, and energy.

In the face of such a challenging context, there is the opportunity for national and local governments to scale up their disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation actions to protect citizens and local infrastructure assets and systems. To make this happen these governments and other stakeholders (students, youth, communities, private sector) need support through education and training, bringing to them best practices and practical solutions, which education and training institutes can provide.

Objectives:

This panel will address the following questions:

-       What are the examples of education and training supporting governments and other stakeholders embed risk reduction at the core of integrated local development planning?

-       What critical factors can help to create partnerships between urban governments and academic institutions to improve risk informed decisions?

-       How can training and education facilitate greater local government-private sector partnership through networks and platforms, to increase municipality access to wider technical skills and solutions?

As the world faces increasingly complex and interconnected challenges and problems, we need leaders who can confidently lead their organisations, teams, and communities through periods of turbulence and change. As the level of public service expenditure becomes increasingly tighter and as resources available become more rationalised (including those who work in and for public service agencies), the place and role of purposeful, aligned and engaging public service leadership becomes even more of an imperative. We suggest that public service leaders need to be highly attuned to their environment and their people, and first and foremost, themselves, their personal values, orientations, and behaviours. We suggest that organisations and communities will be hampered in terms of their development and futures if their leaders merely follow prescriptive, rule bound, limited, and limiting management practices. We suggest that for leadership that makes an impact on positive change and development in organisations and/communities, leaders need to cultivate a highly attuned level of self-awareness and self-consciousness which is a prerequisite to learning, which itself is a cornerstone to leadership effectiveness.

We strongly advocate the concept of the ‘learning leader’ and ‘engaged followership’. Further, we suggest that leaders who can ‘genuinely learn’ and ‘learn genuinely’ can grow and develop much needed capabilities, orientations, and aptitudes, all of which enable leaders to not only survive challenging times but to become more confident and capable in navigating their organisations, followers, and communities forward through uncertain and rapidly changing contexts.

Building on the work of learning theorists like Argyris and Schön (1978), Kolb (1984), Revans (1980), Pedler (2012), and others, we have developed, in the context of leadership development, a learning framework that reconceptualises concepts of learning and change and offers two revised models (one of learning and one of change). We would suggest that these serve as powerful and tested frameworks for enabling leaders to reimagine their purpose, role, and practice.

We are seeking to move beyond a presentation of the frameworks and analysis of the approach at a theoretical level only. As such, we propose to run a practical workshop that aims to introduce participants to the concept of a Learning Leader and its relevance to contemporary public service organisations and/community leadership and share with participants two diagnostic frameworks and tools to help them reflect on their understanding of their own leadership practice and capacity and capability to lead others through periods of change and crises. These tools and frameworks have been tried and tested and very well received as part of leadership programmes for a variety of organisations and groups including the Ethiopian public service, university Course Leaders, and mentees on the London Higher mentorship programme.

This workshop would be of relevance to senior leaders in public service organisations who are interested in developing a deeper understanding of their leadership contribution to their organisations and to the wider community. We would particularly welcome those who value reflective based learning as a tool for self-insight and development.

Practical Implications

Each participant will be given the results of a diagnostic questionnaire which they can use as the basis to identifying leadership behaviours for leading their organisations, teams and/or communities.

Originality/Value

We believe this approach is innovative, both conceptually and as a ‘tool’ that can be applied in practice.

This first Panel on Promoting the Principles of Effective Governance for Sustainable Development (PEG for Sustainable Development) is a pivotal event designed to delve deep into the 11 Principles of Effective Governance drafted by the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration (UN-CEPA) and endorsed by the Economic and Social Council in 2018.

These principles fall under 3 key pillars:
- Effectiveness: Competence, Sound Policymaking, Collaboration;
- Accountability: Integrity, Transparency, Independent Oversight;
-Inclusiveness: Leaving no one behind, non-discrimination, participation, subsidiarity, Intergenerational Equity.

The PEG form the backbone of effective governance strategies globally. They are linked to 62 commonly used strategies for operationalizing responsive and effective governance in lign with Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, and in particular with the SDG 16. Many of these strategies have been recognized and endorsed over the years in various United Nations forums, resolutions and treaties.

This first Panel aims to introduce this newly created Working Group within IASIA, and elucidate how the PEG can be practically applied to navigate the complex landscape of sustainable development and achieve the SDGs effectively. By bringing together a diverse array of experts, practitioners, and policymakers, the PEG seeks to foster an enriching dialogue on the multifaceted aspects of governance, accountability, and inclusiveness. The Panel on PEG for Sustainable Development promises to be an engaging and insightful session, providing a platform for in-depth discussions on the critical role of governance principles in achieving sustainable development goals globally.

This Working Group serves also as a pivotal platform for scholars and practitioners alike to share their research insights and perspectives within these critical areas. While contributions that address specific questions are encouraged, we also welcome submissions that extend beyond these parameters, encompassing a broader spectrum of relevant topics and discussions that consider the following questions.

Questions to consider for future contributions:
- Where we are in the implementation of the PEG for Sustainable development?
- How can effective leadership ensure institutions have the required competence, expertise, resources, and tools to implement the PEG, and gain effectiveness?
- How can integrity, transparency, and independent oversight be ensured to promote accountability and ethical conduct in public service?
- What strategies can be adopted to promote accountable Public Institutions, including among Schools and Institutes of administration?
- What measures are effective in promoting open government, proactive disclosure of information, and regulatory independence?
- How Public institutions and other actors and stakeholders can be more inclusive to leave no one behind?
- How can the PEG impact the alternative service delivery to better meet population and citizen needs?
- What are the best practices about the PEG?
- What is the significance of effective governance for a country's development? What is the importance of efficient governance in promoting modernization for developing countries?
- What political structures and institutional mechanisms are required to facilitate efficient governance?
- What are the current limitations in advancing effective governance, and what obstacles are being encountered?
- What is the correlation between effective governance, and democracy, liberty, the rule of law? What is the correlation between efficient governance and bureaucracy?
- What impact do a nation's political culture and traditions have on facilitating efficient governance?
- What are the next planned steps for this Working Group, and how can interested individuals contribute?
- What measures can this Working Group take to facilitate academic exchanges within countries?
- What are the future goals of our Working Group? What initiatives can be coordinated, and what resources can be searched around the world?