MEDITERRANEAN PUBLIC SERVICE AWARDS (MPSA) ___________________________ A Project Presentation Prepared by DIMCE NIKOLOV

Why MPSA? To improve the image of public service and to enhance professionalism of public servants across the Mediterranean region To generate awareness of the Governments of the countries in the region about the importance of rewarding initiatives in the public sector To support the activities of the Network of Innovators in Governance in the Mediterranean region in the efforts to help the countries to respond to the new governance challenges To encourage introducing innovations in governance and public administration in those countries that leg behind others

Project Objectives To recognize, and encourage the efforts made by public administrations in improving the quality of public service in the Mediterranean region To reward exceptional projects which will serve as examples and worthy of replication The Awards aim at supporting the mutual recognition, dissemination, and the adaptation of best practices

A Rationale for the Awards (cont.) The MPSA is an important tool for governments to improve the quality of their public administration performances It recognizes outstanding achievements and excellence in performances in quality, effective service delivery, accountability, transparency, ethics, management, and where technology and innovation played a major part Awardees will be honored for their achievements not only governments’ departments, units, and agencies, but also public servants and individuals whose efforts and dedications to public service have raised standards throughout the public sector

A Rationale for the Awards MPSA winners will become a catalyst for all InnovMed beneficiary countries, and for others in the region to follow and promote further innovations in the public sector The Awards will encourage Mediterranean countries to participate more actively in the United Nations Public Service Awards Programme, as the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service

Project Activities and Phases (cont.) The project will require introducing and implementing different activities, as necessary steps to meet the objectives. They are: Identification of current state of PSA on national, and sub-regional level, in order to define the PSA strategy; Organization of the preparation process and the activities for call and submitting nominations for the awards; Preparation and conceptualization of the evaluation process; Organization and preparation of the Award Ceremony event; Evaluation and dissemination of the results of the project; Follow-up questionnaires

Project Activities and Phases Phase II Phase III Evaluation process and selection of the Best nominations Public Service Awards Ceremony and Technical Meeting on Successful Practices Publication of the winners and evaluation of the MPSA PhaseIV Phase V Phase VI

Project Funding Funding for the project will be provided by a specially established Trust Fund The Fund will be consisted of: sponsors of the Awards: InnovMed Programme budget; the host country-organizer of the Award Ceremony; contributions by partner and beneficiary countries The issue of funding of the Awards and the Awards Ceremony will be discussed on regular basis at one of the meetings of the Steering Committee

The Award The Award refer to the physical award– Plaque which will be specially designed for the MPSA to be presented as the best submission as judged by the Selection Panel One Overall Winner Award will be selected from the category awards In addition, there will be one further special award for Public Service Organization of the Year

Award Categories Each section will consist of 2-3 categories **************** Every year the nominations will be submitted in different categories Nominations to be submitted in the following five sections: ► Public Service Quality ► Public Service Delivery ► Transparency ► e-Government Innovations In 2007 Awards will be given in the following three categories: -Improving the Delivery of Services; -Improving of the Public Service Personnel Training Programmes -Application of ICT in Government Award candidate applications/ projects will be assessed: -For their exceptional performance in different aspects For the original innovativeness which lead to better results in different areas of the public sector

Evaluation Criteria/ Selection Panel (cont.) Only the applicants which meet the requirements will be considered The applications will be evaluated by a Selection Panel, consisted of six internationally recognized public administration experts (two from each of the sub-regions) Selection Panel members normally serve two-year terms. A member of the Panel will be appointed as Chairperson of the Selection Panel The evaluators will use the following criteria to assesses applications: - Innovativeness: the extent to which initiative, creativity and new procedures have been developed to be considered as significant improvement in public service; -Government involvement: is government driving/supporting the project, and what is the nature of partnership with government;

Evaluation Criteria/ Selection Panel - Effectiveness: the extent to which the project has achieved or is on its way to achieving its stated objectives; - Sustainability: the viability and sound functioning of the project within the constrains such as funding, staffing etc. - Replicability: the value of the project in offering others new ideas and good practices for better service delivery Preliminary review of the submissions will be finalized not later than February and short-listed activities should be completed until April The decision on the winners will be taken during the meeting of the Selection Panel, which will coincide with the annual meeting of the Steering Committee The Selection Panel’s decision will be final

Application Eligibility (cont.) MPSA applicants can be only a public service organization that provides direct services to the public Voluntary organization which receives public funding, as well as commercial organizations which are subcontractors to the public sector, can also apply for a MPSA The applicants may enter more than one category, but application must be submitted for each award category entered To enter the MPSA the application must be electronically and should contain the following: An entry statement of a 500 words must be submitted, which should explain why the programme/project is exceptional; A narrative of a 200 words;

Application Eligibility Sustainability and transferability of the project (500 words); Lessons learned (500 words) Eligibility criteria: to enter the MPSA the application must be electronically and it should contain the following four sections: Supporting materials such as surveys, media coverage, and third-party statement should be also provided for each application The MPSA may be withdrawn at any time if standards fall bellow the high quality expected of MPSA holder. To win another MPSA, the applicant must show real improvement in their services

Award Winners The winners of the Awards will be announced on 23rd of June (the UN Public Service Day) The Awardees will be invited by the country-organizer of the Awards Ceremony to receive the Awards The winning organization will be able to use the awards logo on their promotional material

Notification of Recipients The Chairperson of the Selection Panel will notify the winner(s) and send them a written notification, immediately after the selection of the best nominations The Letter of notification should be brief, containing explanation of the reasons of the Award

Presentation of the Awards The Awards will be presented at a special Awards Ceremony, organized by the host country The host country for the Awards Ceremony will be determined by consensus (at the annual meeting of the Steering Committee) For the host country, the rotating system will be introduced (so that every year the Award Ceremony will be held in a different country from a different sub-region The Awards will be presented to the selected winners by a high-level officials of the host-country

Thank you! More information www.unpan.org/innovmed alberti@un.org nialkolov@un.org Thank you!