OECD-EU high-level conference on public governance in Morocco

 

SIGMA, together with the Ministry of Administration Reform and Civil Service of Morocco, organised a joint OECD-EU, high-level conference on public governance in Rabat, Morocco on 19 June 2019.

The conference confirmed the engagement of both the EU and the OECD to assist Morocco with reform of the public administration, and administrative services in particular, as well as their commitment to work together to this end. The programmes of both organisations (Country Programme 2 of the OECD and Hakama 2 of the EU) are aligned, and underline the strategic importance of putting users (citizens and businesses) at the centre of administration reforms.

The opening speeches were delivered by Mohamed Benabdelkader, Minister for Administration Reform and Civil Service of Morocco, Maciej Popowski, Deputy Director General of DG NEAR of the European Commission and Marcos Bonturi, Director for Public Governance at the OECD.

SIGMA presented a report that assesses Morocco’s performance against the Principles of Public Administration in the area of service delivery and highlights the important progress made recently by the Moroccan public administration in providing services to citizens and businesses. This structured, evidence-based approach enabled discussion of the areas where it will be necessary to deepen analysis and increase the support provided.

A panel discussion, moderated by Rupert Schlegelmilch, Ambassador of the EU to the OECD, offered an opportunity to exchange opinions on how Morocco can best use the findings and recommendations of the report, as well as take advantage of other forms of support offered.

The need for strong political engagement, a strategic and co-ordinated approach, interministerial co-operation, taking full advantage of ICT technologies and transforming digital government, a focus on tangible results and involvement of citizens in all stages of the reform process from conception to evaluation, were just some of the issues raised by the panellists:

Bianca Brétéché, Regional Liaison for Neighbourhood countries, SIGMA, OECD,
Martin Forst, Head of Division for Public Governance Reviews and Partnerships, OECD,
Milena Harito, SIGMA expert, former Minister of Modernisation of Public Administration of Albania,
Ahmed Laamoumri, Secretary General of the Ministry of Administration Reform and Civil Service of Morocco,
Philip Mikos, Head of Co-operation at the EU Delegation to Morocco,
Barbara Ubaldi, Acting Head of Division of Public Sector Reform, OECD. 

Prior to the conference, a bilateral meeting took place between Marcos Bonturi and the Head of Government of Morocco, Saad-Eddine El Otmani. 

Agenda: French I Arabic

Revue des prestations de services administratifs au Maroc

Presentation: Prestation de services administratifs au Maroc, Lech Marcinkowski, SIGMA

The event was widely covered by the Moroccan media:

La Tribune I  Panorapost  I  Atlasinfo  I  MAP Express  I  Aujourd'hui le Maroc  I  Hespress 

Libération Maroc  I  Panora Post  I  Le Matin  I  Agence Afrique  I  InfoMédiaire I Atlantic radio