A newly released report by the DEEP Centre and the Ottawa-based Institute on Governance provides government leaders with a new blueprint for encouraging innovation and responsible risk-taking in public sector institutions. The Path to Digital Governance was developed after a series of extensive dialogue sessions held between November 2017 and March 2018 involving participants from a broad spectrum of institutions and sectors, including academic institutions, private sector entities and public institutions. The report’s findings will help ensure that governments meet the challenges imposed by an informed public that increasingly expects engagement in the development of policies and programs, and tangible, visible results within ever tighter timelines.
The report argues that governments around the world face a unique and challenging set of responsibilities. On one hand, they must navigate today’s continuing geo-political and economic volatility by fulfilling promises to deliver economic growth and social progress. On the other hand, they must provide sound custodianship of taxpayer money and meet rising expectations for productivity and efficiency. Their capacity to do so, meanwhile, is being shaped by a confluence of technological, demographic, social and economic forces that holds both the promise and the inevitability of new models for delivering the functions of government.
The report concludes that public sector leaders must be bold and unafraid to ask profound questions about the evolving roles and powers of the public sector as they fashion new strategies for public service modernization. Can public agencies use technology to improve decision-making and channel greater ingenuity from citizens and the private sector into efforts to solve major challenges like youth unemployment and rising health care costs? Could regulatory bodies take advantage of the growing abundance of data to streamline approvals and better target inspections? Could service delivery move from a transactional approach to a holistic, citizen-centered perspective where citizens themselves play a more active and ongoing role in defining and even assembling the basket of services they need?
The read more about the answers to these questions, download the full report here.