Agenda 2025

21 January 2025
08:30 – 09:00

REGISTRATION AND NETWORKING

09:00 – 09:05

WELCOME

09:05 – 09:20

OPENING ADDRESS  

 Leo Yip – Head of Civil Service, Singapore

09:20 – 09:40

KEYNOTE
Indexed for success: Insights from global studies of civil services

Governments around the world are all tackling similar challenges – from tackling climate change to developing digital services – and international rankings can help governments identify best practice – both among global leaders and their peer countries.

This session will share insights from the 2024 Blavatnik Index of Public Administration on the top performing civil services around the world and explore how governments can use the Index as a learning tool to support their transformation and reform efforts, as well as drawing on the findings of Global Government Forum’s own Making Government Work report, to share the lessons from the best-performing governments around the world.

Led by Lord Gus O’Donnell, former UK Cabinet Secretary, Chair of the Blavatnik Index Senior Leadership Panel and executive adviser for Global Government Forum’s Making Government Work report, alongside representatives from the Blavantik School of Government, this session will discuss the key building blocks of a modern civil service – from strategy and leadership, and people and processes, to public policy and national delivery.

Speakers:

• Lord Gus O’Donnell, Former Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, United Kingdom
• Kathy Hall, Chief Operating Officer, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford

09:40 – 10:40

How to realise true digital transformation in government

Digital technology has fundamentally changed how individuals live nearly every minute if their waking lives – from how they work, how they consume information, how they communicate with friends and family, and how they organise their social life and free time.

However, in many ways the way that government develops policy has not fully matched this transformation.

As Gina Gill, chief strategy officer in the UK Cabinet Office has put it, government needs to become “deliberate in designing policy for the digital age”, asking: “Are we trying to be government with digital services to deliver productivity, or do we want to be a digital government? Because those are two different things. One means you’re focused on your own products and services in your own world, and the other means that we have got to join up more across government.”

This session will discuss how government can be rewired to become truly digital. It will look at how governments can develop policy and legislation that is “digital-ready” and programmed for the future, as well as looking at how public services can structure themselves to be more agile, based on the findings of Global Government Forum’s ‘Making government work’ report.

Panel discussion followed by audience Q&A

Speakers:

• Jamie Ang, Deputy Secretary (Transformation), Public Service Division, Singapore
• Gillian Dorner, Deputy Director, Public Governance Directorate, OECD
• Taimar Peterkop, State Secretary, Estonia
• Carl Ward, Director, Public Sector, Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ), Amazon Web Services

Knowledge Partner

10:40 – 11:10

REFRESHMENT BREAK

11:10 – 12:10

Moving past firefighting: the role of anticipatory policymaking in government

Governments around the world have had to deal with many unexpected shocks in recent years, from a pandemic to a cost-of-living crisis, and now the impact of conflict and an increase in global migration and record numbers of displaced people.

In such circumstances, it is difficult for public servants can look ahead at the significant strategic challenges that countries face – but it is vital that they are able to do so.

Anticipatory policymaking is an attempt to do just that. This approach aims to ensure that government can use historical knowledge and long-range strategy in the public sector, as well as looking to embed longer-term thinking in key policy areas such as pensions, climate policy, healthcare provision, and resilience and crisis preparedness.

This session will look at the effective uses of anticipatory policymaking; how public servants can provide advice and policies to help ministers deal with the challenges they may face – and be ready to respond to them; and how governments can mitigate short-termism and error in policymaking.

Discussion followed by audience Q&A

Speakers:

• Ryan Alvin R. Acosta, Commissioner, Civil Service Commission, Philippines
• Harri Martikainen, Director General, Government Strategy Department, Prime Minister’s Office, Finland
• Ms Amelia Tang, Deputy Secretary, Strategy Group, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore
• Hugo Vitalis, Deputy Chief Executive of Strategy, Policy and Integrity Group. Public Service Commission, New Zealand

12:10 – 13:00

Why is data sharing so hard in government?

Public servants around the world agree that better sharing of data – both within and across organizations – is vital to delivering better services. However, despite many policies that seek to improve the sharing of information, governments often struggle to make it happen in a way that can inform policy and delivery.

This session will discuss the challenges that government faces in making data-sharing happen, discussing both why these issues prove so persistent and best practice in helping to overcome them – across areas including technology, standards, culture and legislation. It will also shine a light on successful examples of data sharing in government – and what the lessons are.

Panel discussion followed by audience Q&A

Speakers:

• Lord Gus O’Donnell, Former Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, United Kingdom
• GOH Wei Boon, Chief Executive, Government Technology Agency (GovTech), Singapore
• Mircea Esanu, Director, Public Services Agency, Moldova

13:00 – 14:00

NETWORKING LUNCH

14:00 – 15:00

Top talent: Recruiting – and developing – the digital skills government needs

Finding the right digital skills is vital to be able to make the transformation of the public service that will lead to better services in government. 

However, many governments around the world report a shortage of technical specialists, particularly in areas such as data science and cyber security.

The session will look at how governments around the world are developing digital talent strategies to make sure that they have the capability and capacity they need, and share insight on how to recruit, develop, and retain the skill to deliver their digital agenda.

Panel discussion followed by audience Q&A

Speakers:

• Marie-Chantal Girard, President, Public Service Commission, Canada
• Sim Feng-Ji, Deputy Secretary (Digital Government), Ministry of Digital Development and Information, Singapore
• Didi Esther Walson-Jack, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Nigeria
• Darkhan Zhazykbay, Chairman of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs, Kazakhstan
• Eklavya Bhave, Head of Asia, Coursera

Knowledge Partner

15:00 -15:30

REFRESHMENT BREAK

15:30 – 16:30

Top conduct: driving standards and ethics in civil services

In an age of increasing dis- and misinformation, it is ever more important that civil servants meet the highest ethical standards. Governments around the world are working to update and implement consistent ethical standards, and this session will bring together public servants form around thew world to discuss the best way to formulate rules that van built trust in civil services.

This session will also look at how these ethical standards can be enforced, and how the development of standards in different countries around thew world have contributed to increasing trust in government.

Panel discussion followed by audience Q&A

Speakers:

• Gordon de Brouwer, Public Service Commissioner, Australia
• Catherine Little CB, Chief Operating Officer, Civil Service and Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office, United Kingdom
• Tsedevsuren Lkhagva, Chairwoman, Civil Service Council, Mongolia
• Mrs Tashi Pem, Chairperson, Royal Civil Service Commission, Bhutan

16:30 – 16:40

SUMMARY AND CLOSING REMARKS