Agenda 2026

20 January 2026
08:30 – 09:00

REGISTRATION AND NETWORKING

09:00 – 09:05

OPENING

09:05 – 09:20

WELCOME ADDRESS  

 Leo Yip, Head of Civil Service (HCS), Singapore

09:20 – 09:35

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Anita Puri, Global Public Service Industry Lead, Accenture

09:40 – 10:25

AI in action: Global innovations in building trust and rewiring government to make the most of AI

The public sector must consider people’s comfort with AI if it is to use the technology effectively. This session will showcase projects and insights from public servants on how they understand public attitudes to AI, how they are working to boost trust in its use, and the risks if AI adoption outpaces evidence on public views.

Panel discussion followed by audience Q&A

Speakers:

• Dr He Ruimin, Chief AI Officer/MDDI, Singapore
• Mahesh Uttamchandani, Regional Practice Director for Digital and AI, East Asia & Pacific and South Asia, World Bank
• Innocent B Muhizi, High Commissioner, High Commission of the Republic of Rwanda in Singapore

10:25 – 10:55

REFRESHMENT BREAK

10:55 – 11:10

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Lord Gus O’Donnell, Former Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, United Kingdom

11:10 – 11:50

Engaging citizens and closing the feedback loop

Around the world, public services are building more responsive systems by listening to citizens in real time and showing how those views shape decisions. This session will explore how civil services design accessible feedback channels, analyse and act on insights, and report back transparently so that trust is strengthened and services improve.

This session will explore practical methods for creating a “feedback stack” across digital and offline channels, integrating quantitative metrics with qualitative insights, and publishing clear updates that show the impact of feedback to connect citizen insights to ministerial decision-making, budgeting, and delivery reviews.

Panel discussion followed by audience Q&A

Speakers:

• Catherine Little CB, Chief Operating Officer for the Civil Service and Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office, United Kingdom
• Jimmy Toh, Chief Executive Director/People’s Association, Singapore 
• Keit Kasemets, Secretary of State, Estonia
• Dr Subho Banarjee, Deputy Commissioner, Australian Public Service Commission

11:55 – 12:35

Unlocking an improved experience of government services with data

Building more responsive public services requires making better use of data. But making better use of data requires government to develop and implement common data management approaches, and secure, interoperable systems.

This session will bring together public servants from across government to share case studies of how data can be used to drive better, more responsive and personalised services. It will share insight on how to build business cases and collaboration initiatives to make the most of the data that government collects – and how to build public trust in how government can use data across boundaries.

Panel discussion followed by audience Q&A

Speakers:

• Marie-Chantal Girard, President, Public Service Commission, Canada
• Kevin Ng, Senior Director, Data Programme, GovTech, Singapore
• Tshering Choden, Strategy Lead, Innovation Lab, Bhutan
• Gillian Dorner, Deputy Director, Public Governance Directorate, OECD

12:35 – 13:30

NETWORKING LUNCH

13:30 – 14:15

Measuring government performance to drive continuous improvement

It has never been more important for government to be able to measure performance. The pace at which government needs to deliver means that it needs to move at pace – and understand whether this is effective. This is especially true when it comes to solving long-term problems, were government leaders need to know how process is being made in delivering things like five-year economic plans, decade-long transformation plans for healthcare, or 25-year plans to reach net zero.

This means that governments need to use data and information effectively to understand performance. It puts a premium on making sure that government can measure the impact of particular policy changes, as well as creating feedback loops in government to allow policies to be changed to become more effective.

This session will examine research on how governments are developing data insights to measure performance against long-term government missions, and will also discuss the information that government leaders need to make effective decisions on how to manage public services.

Panel discussion followed by audience Q&A

Speakers:

• Didi Esther Walson-Jack, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Nigeria
• Adrian Chua, Deputy Secretary (Development)/MOF, Singapore
• Ben King, Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, New Zealand
• Harri Martikainen, Director General, Government Strategy Department, Prime Minister’s Office, Finland
• His Excellency Talal Bin Adullah Al-Subaie, Deputy Director-General of the Performance Department, National Center for Performance Measurement of Public Agencies (Adaa), Saudi Arabia

14:15 – 14:20

SUMMARY AND CLOSING REMARKS

12:45 – 14:15

The future of work in the age of AI

Artificial intelligence is changing tasks, skills and leadership expectations across the public sector. This session will explore how governments are redesigning roles and workflows so that AI augments, not replaces, public servants; how leaders build literacy to ask the right questions; and how organisations update job families, progression pathways and learning so skills keep pace.

This session will examine workforce and workplace implications: human-in-the-loop safeguards, new competencies for policy, product and data roles, and fair, transparent use of AI in HR processes. Leaders will discuss how to engage staff and the public, strengthen ethics and assurance, and measure value from service quality to productivity so that AI adoption remains purposeful and accountable.

Supported by:

Boosting digital resilience: From fragmentation to coherence

Government leaders around the world are focusing increasingly focused on how they can build public sector digital resilience to build more robust public services. As well as facing cyber security threats and risks, many legacy systems are not secure, and governments are increasingly aware of the need to build resilience at scale.

This session will look at how civil services are building secure, modern digital foundations amidst rising cyber threats and aging infrastructure.

14:30 – 16:00

Talk of transformation: How to create a common language for digital government

Although digital transformation is helping government deliver, sometimes the connections in government are not strong enough to let frontline public servants understand what technology is available to meet the tasks they need. Likewise, government technologists might not know in detail the problems that need to be solved.

This session will look at how government can create multidisciplinary teams to make sure that the potential of transformation is meeting the problems that government needs to solve.

Bringing in the best ideas to solve government problems

The problems that governments face – such as climate change, demographic change and AI risk – are complex, long-term and multifaced. This means that governments need to gather the best evidence and information for its policymaking – and achieving this means government needs to make sure they can access the best expertise and knowledge in their countries to help them solve problems.

Global Government Forum’s research has identified that governments need to revamp recruitment practices to offer people greater flexibility to move between the public, private and voluntary sectors throughout their careers.

As one leader told us in the Making Government Work report, “we have to think differently about the construct of careers, and about the partnerships we’re willing to form with other organisations… both with commercial organisations and academia”.

However, it is not just recruitment where government can work to ensure they have access to the best expertise.

As no single sector has all the answers to today’s most pressing challenges, the fluid movement of ideas and expertise – as well as talent – is essential for effective governance.

Research by Global Government Forum is exploring global examples of government-led cross-industry collaboration programmes, and this session will set out how government can harness talent and ideas from across and outside government. We will discuss best practice developed by governments around the world, examining the different organisational and outcome-based procurement models can fit with the way civil services work