The Republic of Korea, through the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and the Ministry of Personnel Management (MPM), hosted the 2017 EROPA Conference. It was held in Seoul, Korea on 11-15 September 2017. The conference theme was on The Role of Public Governance in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals: Transforming, Empowering and Network-Building. The conference was organized by National Human Resources Development Institute (NHI) (formerly the Central Officials Training Institute (COTI)) and EROPA.

EROPA and Korea

Korea became a state member of EROPA in 1962.  It currently hosts the EROPA Development Management Center, based at the National Human Resources Development Institute (formerly Central Officials Training Institute or COTI). Korea hosted the EROPA General Assembly and Conference in 1964, 1983, 1992 and 2009.

1st Carlos P. Ramos Award for Best Conference Paper

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​MUHAMMAD SYAFIQ 
of National Institute of Public Administration
Indonesia
For having presented an outstanding paper entitled Public Perception Survey as an Early Warning Method in Reducing the Negative Impact of Bureaucratization during the 2017 EROPA General Assembly and Conference with the theme, “Role of Public Governance in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: Transforming, Empowering, and Network-Building.”

Conference Themes and Sub-themes

WHY THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS?
​The United Nations acknowledges the need for a single development framework along the lines of economic development, environmental sustainability and social inclusion, where no one is left behind. Building this framework is a challenging task, given the diversity of contexts, actors, challenges, and visions for the future. But this is possible, if governments support efforts of the bureaucracy, citizenry, the private sector and the civil society to commit and address our common future. Public Administration (PA) plays a very important role in this regard. 
 
The state and governance institutions have to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets by 1) strengthening internal capacities; 2) maintaining a talented, competent human resource base; and 3) engaging in collaborative partnerships and networks within and outside the government. Shaping the post-2015 Development Agenda and the SDG provides key players in development endless opportunities to be more creative, effective and innovative in implementing policies, strategies and tools to meet rising expectations from the citizenry. It also allows public administration scholars to explore new areas and lenses for understanding the ever-changing practice of PA and its role in development.
The conference will tackle the following questions:
  1. How can institutional and policy innovations and reforms transform governments and society, as well as contribute significantly to achieving the sustainable development goals?
  2. How can state and governance institutions further improve the capacity and empower their social and other capitals to engender a culture of excellence in public service?
  3. How can state and other institutions strengthen networks, partnership and collaboration in pursuit of sustainable development?
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Theme A
Public Sector Transformations:
Institutional and Policy Innovations and Reforms towards Sustainable Development
Through the years, we have witnessed an explosion of institutional reforms and innovations at all levels in response to the changing global landscape as well as demands of the citizenry. However important these concepts are, reform and innovation are often misunderstood and unappreciated.
 
Decentralization and democratization has emerged as one of the globally popular and preferred public sector reforms for promoting sustainable development. However, decentralization generally yielded mixed results.  Meanwhile, countries in Asia are gradually shifting to deregulation and privatization, but differences in the socioeconomic objectives, and in the extent of involvement of public enterprises in economic activities, pose significant challenges for state institutions.  Likewise, new forms of engagement such as the use of social media and ICTs for development, e-government and e-governance, among others, entail opportunities and challenges to the public sector and governance realm. These include the design of IT frameworks, digitization of large amounts of data, citizen access, and content development.
 
In sum, PA scholars and practitioners need to reflect and rethink on how the public sector can manage these innovations effectively from within.  Theme A attempts to examine changes, reforms and innovations in all levels of governance, and analyze how these innovations improve public administration systems in pursuit of sustainable development. The discussions will draw from best practices, success stories and experiences of both scholars and practitioners in the region.
 
Sub-themes for this session include:
  1. Innovating Public Sector in Times of Globalization
  2. Tools for Transparent and Effective Public Governance
  3. Addressing Sustainable Development through Institutional and Policy Innovations
  4. Sustainable Financial and Public Sector Reform
  5. Transformations and New Norms in Public Governance
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Theme B
Human Resources and Social Capital for Sustainable Development: Empowering Governance Stakeholders for Quality Public Services
Lately, there has been a growing emphasis on the development of social capital, and public sector and other agencies are increasingly acknowledging the importance of employees and the people in delivering quality public services.  They define the character of public service, reflect organizational performance, and serve as the knowledge base of governance stakeholders.
 
For government and other institutions to remain at the forefront of driving sustainable development, they need to retain a more flexible, effective, and skilled workforce to deal with complex challenges in governance and implement important policy decisions.  Likewise, managers must uphold and promote competencies in team-building, communication, and engaging employees; foster cultural awareness; and strengthen commitment to integrity and accountability. 
 
In general, the shift towards sustainable development requires strategic development and management of human capital, in a way that is flexible and attuned with societal needs, and improves quality of public services.  Theme B will discuss different strategies in human resource development (HRD) and management (HRM), identify successes and failures, and analyze implications for public sector agencies in realizing sustainable development.     
 
This session will discuss the following sub-themes:
  1. Sustainable Human Resources Management and Development in an Era of Public Sector Reforms
  2. Addressing Effective and Responsible Public Human Resource Capacities toward Public Governance Innovation
  3. Tools in Strategic Human Resource Development: Experiences and Lessons
  4. New Roles and Expectations to Improve Quality of Public Service
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Theme C
Networks and Partnerships: Expanding and Strengthening Collaboration in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals
The rapidly changing geo-political, social, environmental and economic landscape has brought both wonders and problems in the public sector, which demand new norms and building partnerships for collective action for sustainable development.  Public-private partnerships, considered the new tool in global governance, entail shared authority and risks between the government and the private sector. Meanwhile, multi-stakeholder partnerships provide avenues for cooperation and joint creative problem solving, and promote international norms and values of good governance. 
 
Networking, partnership and collaboration, however, face difficulties and challenges. These include finding the balance of interests and incentives among partners, ensuring accountability and legitimacy, and managing trade-offs.  These, however, are not insurmountable.
 
Theme C provides a platform for different state and other governance institutions to share experiences and strategies for building networks and partnerships for sustainable development.  It will attempt to deepen understanding of the role and relevance of collaboration and cooperation in global governance, and how current strategies may be further improved to better advance sustainable development.
 
The session will tackle the following sub-themes:
  1. Addressing Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), Inter-Organizational Partnerships, and International Partnerships
  2. Strengthening Network Capacity: Issues, Past Experiences and Future Challenges
  3. Practical Tools of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Participative, Collaborative and Developmental Partnerships Among Developed and Developing Countries