The UN Public Service Awards: Commonwealth winners from 2012 Introducing the Awards • South Australia’s Strategic Plan Community Engagement (Department of Premier and Cabinet, Australia). The United Nations Public Service Awards (UNPSA) recognises excellence in public service and rewards the • Metro Vancouver’s Public Outreach and Engagement creative achievements and contributions of public service Program (Metro Vancouver, Canada). institutions that have led to more effective and responsive Category 5 – Promoting Gender-Responsive Delivery of public administrations worldwide. The UNPSA are awarded Public Services – included the following winning initiatives: annually on 23 June, which was designated by the General Assembly as the United Nations Public Service Day to • ‘Protecting the Futures’, an initiative of the Small Projects ‘celebrate the value and virtue of service to the community’. Foundation Africa, that addresses school drop-out, puberty education and reproductive health among In 2011, the new UNPSA category ‘Preventing and adolescents (South Africa). Combating Corruption in Public Service’ (Category 1) was established by the United Nations Department of Economic • Isange One Stop Centre for victims of sexual and gender- and Social Affairs, through its Division for Public based violence (Rwandan National Police Force). Administration and Development Management • Integrating gender in the sector and addressing gender (DPADM/UNDESA), in partnership with the United Nations gaps (Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Kenya). Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The United Nations For further details on these, the initiatives featured below, Convention against Corruption (2004) states that and other winners, see: www.unpan.org/unpsa. corruption hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting funds intended for development, undermining a government’s ability to provide basic services, and Independent Commission Against discouraging foreign aid and investment. Corruption, Mauritius This article features three winning projects from (Africa 1st Place Winner, Category 1 – Preventing and Commonwealth member countries – from Category 1 – Combating Corruption in Public Service) Preventing and Combating Corruption in the Public Service; from Category 2 – Improving Delivery in Public Services; and The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) from Category 4 – Advancing Knowledge Management in was established under the Prevention of Corruption Act in Government. 2002 to fight corruption in Mauritius. It is mandated to: Other winning initiatives included: • Educate the public against the dangers of corruption. • Promoting accountability for procurement of public • Conduct investigation on complaints of corruption. projects through the Contractors Registration System • Exercise vigilance and superintendence on integrity systems. (Building and Construction Authority, Singapore). For the purpose of the Award, two public sector organisations, • Helping to empower litigants-in-persons of lower socio- namely the Civil Status Division (CSD) and the Mauritius Police economic backgrounds (Subordinate Courts of Force (MPF), have been chosen to reflect the implementation Singapore). of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Framework (PSACF). The • Use of information and communication technology (ICT) CSD is responsible for vital registration (of births, deaths, for improving service delivery in passport systems (Director marriages) and issue of civil status certificates, while the MPF is General of Immigration and Emigration, Rwanda; responsible for, among other things, law enforcement with Immigration and Passport Department, Grenada). respect to road traffic offences. Complaints of alleged corruption received at the ICAC regularly involve public • Public service drives by the Aarogyam (District Health officials of the CSD and MPF, among others. Authority, India). Problem In Category 3 – Helping to Foster Participation in Public Policy Decisions through Innovative Mechanisms – the The recurrent corruption opportunities prevailing at these following achievements were recognised: institutions are: 116 Commonwealth Governance Handbook 20 12/ 13 The UN Public Service Awards • High autonomy and demands from the public leading to • Formulation of an anti-corruption policy (ACP). bribery for prompt certificate delivery and the celebration • Development of a corruption prevention plan. of marriages. Furthermore, there is screening of offenders from punishment with respect to road traffic offences. • Development and implementation of an integrated corruption risk-management (CRM) plan. • Abuse of office for gratification to celebrate marriage of minors less than 16 years (which is illegal in Mauritius). • Overseeing and co-ordinating implementation of Bribery in the issue of contraventions due to high corruption prevention strategies. discretionary power of officers. • Implementation of the recommendations proposed by • Favouritism in posting personnel to offices where the ICAC in CPRs. registration of marriage between foreigners is high. • Building and sustaining an ethical culture to promote • Misuse of position in regional offices due to unlimited integrity of staff within the organisation. autonomy and discretion of officers in the exercise of • Reporting achievements through the Chief Executive of their functions. the Ministry/Department to the Director-General of the • Absence of a comprehensive database on contraventions ICAC twice yearly. leading to bribery in the processing of contraventions. Challenges and lessons learned Due to limited resources coupled with pressing demands for system reviews from public bodies, the need was felt for a Although the PSACF manual contains invaluable self-administered, holistic and proactive tool to detect and information and materials to prevent and combat prevent corrupt practices in these public sector corruption in an organisation, some difficulties were organisations. encountered in the implementation of the PSACF throughout the public sector organisations. These include Solution the lack of expertise and technical know-how on corruption Many requests from organisations to build a corruption- prevention of members of the ACC, as well as inadequate prevention infrastructure were received. Enquiries also staffing both at the level of the implementing organisations revealed numerous areas for intervention. Hence, a tool had and the ICAC. to be developed to empower public bodies to take up The ICAC spearheaded an in-house capacity-building ownership of building corruption resistance in their programme for public officers of public bodies, including organisations; the aim being to create the necessary the CSD and the MPF. The objectives of the programme for capacity for public bodies to develop, implement, lead and capacity-building were to promote a better understanding sustain their own anti-corruption initiatives in their of the PSACF and empower the public officers with the respective organisations. necessary corruption prevention skills. The achievement recognised by the Award is the The lessons learned are: integration of the PSACF at the CSD and the MPF in the year 2010. Top management of both organisations signed • Total involvement of the implementing organisation was an Anti-Corruption Commitment to implement the PSACF requisite. Management commitment was crucial to drive through which corruption prevention is now thoroughly the initiative – without it, implementation of the PSACF incorporated in the organisational structures and processes, would not have been possible. as well as in the behaviours of the employees, so that • It was crucial for the ICAC to set the tone and create a genuine and sustainable action against corruption is drive to urge public bodies to implement the PSACF. achieved. • Close collaboration with some key ministries, such as the The conceptualisation and design of the PSACF manual Ministry of Civil Service and the Ministry of Local mobilised most personnel of the ICAC’s Corruption Government, could have accelerated the application of Prevention and Education division. In-house expertise was the PSACF across the public service. crucial for the development of the elements included in the PSACF. It took around a year to formalise the framework. Follow-ups on the recommendations made during Furthermore, by using internal resources, the ICAC avoided Corruption Prevention Reviews are regularly carried out. The the financial costs of outsourcing to any consultant, and salient improvements noted include: made effective and efficient use of the experiences and 1. Maximum use of computerisation to reduce corruption prevention skills of its staff. opportunities for corruption that has enabled The initiative is being driven by an anti-corruption immediate delivery of certificates. The MPF is committee (ACC) set up at the level of the public body. The implementing its e-business plan, contravention ACC is responsible for, among other things: database and the penalty point system. Commonwealth Governance Handbook 20 12/ 13 117 Leadership 2. A rotation policy has been put in place so that every departments in delivering the services – this was done officer is given a fair chance to celebrate marriage through reorientation, a redesign of processes and between foreigners. Fixed and mobile cameras are training. being used to reduce opportunities to screen offenders 2. Some additional financial resources were used by from punishment against gratification. various departments for upgrading