23/11/2022 - 24/11/2022
Rabat - The Venice Commission organised the 16th UniDem Med Seminar entitled "The digital transformation of public administration", in co-operation with the Ministry of Digital transformation and administration reform of the Kingdom of Morocco. This seminar took place on 23-24 November 2022 in a hybrid format : online and face-to face in Rabat, Morocco.
Around 70 international experts and senior public officials from the Southern Mediterranean (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine* and Tunisia) were invited to present their experience and exchange views during the seminar. The first day was dedicated to the presentation of experiences and good practices in digital transformation of the public administration in the South Mediterranean region and beyond, with a focus on the respect of users' rights and in particular on equal access and inclusion. On the second day, international and regional experts exchanged with participants on how public administration can adapt and implement policies for the digital transformation of public services in terms of good governance and internal reform. The last session was dedicated to the follow-up of public administration reforms in UniDem Med’s partner countries on themes addressed during previous seminars. In this context, the UniDem Med partners presented the progress in terms of implementation of teleworking policy in their respective administrations. Indeed, this topic was discussed at the 13th seminar, during which the toolkit on teleworking in public administrations prepared by the Council of Europe's Centre of Expertise for Good Governance was presented and translated into Arabic (see link below). At the end of the seminar, the general rapporteur, Ms Nadia Bernoussi, drew up a series of recommendations on the topics discussed, that can be found in the final report below and which was disseminated within the UniDem Med practitioners’ network as well as on the website of the Commission.
This seminar was an opportunity to present the standards and the work of the Council of Europe in these areas like as well as the OECD framework for digital talent and skills in the public sector (see links below).
The working languages of the seminar were English, French and Arabic.
The objective of the UniDem Med project (University for Democracy for the Southern Mediterranean) is to contribute through peer-to-peer exchanges to the modernisation of the public administrations in the region by ensuring the effective application of the law and the consolidation of institutions. The project aims to strengthen the legal capacities of senior civil servants in areas related to good governance, rule of law and human rights as well as to build closer ties between the public administrations from the region.
The UniDem Med project is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in the framework of the Joint Programme “Protecting human rights, the rule of law and democracy through shared standards in the Southern Mediterranean" (South Programme V).
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* This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of Council of Europe and European Union member States on this issue.