DPIDG/UNPOG organized the workshop on “Mobilizing and equipping public servants to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieve the SDGs”, in parallel with the Regional Symposium. The Workshop is part of the programme of the UN DESA Global Initiative for Schools of Public Administration on the SDGs. 

The training workshop was organized as a follow-up to the first meeting of the Global Initiative for Schools of Public Administration organized by United Nations Public Service in Morocco in June, and its outcome survey report which maps the incorporation of SDGs into regional civil service curricula. Focusing on the Asia-Pacific region, the workshop took stock of current public administration curricula and existing training programmes for the SDGs to address gaps and lay the foundation for a common competency framework. 

The key objective of the training workshop was to engage with schools of public administration in the Asia-Pacific to develop and update curricula to reflect the SDGs. This includes updating training offers to integrate the key principles and objectives of the 2030 Agenda and develop the relevant competencies that public servants and public sector leaders require to effectively support the achievement of the SDGs. Ten senior representatives from national public administration institutions and civil service commissions from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Mongolia, Pakistan, Nepal, Vietnam, Samoa, Vanuatu, and the Philippines, and one representative from the Asian Association for Public Administration participated in the training workshop. 

Participants presented regional and national perspectives on the integration of SDGs into curricula and training and discussed what it takes to transform mindsets, what has worked and what has not, and finally what new methodologies are useful in learning about and integrating the SDGs into planning across government and developing core competencies for achieving the 2030 Agenda. Based on these discussions, the workshop mapped out the tentative competencies and mindsets that are needed. 

The workshop participants called for three key follow-up actions: 1) establish a task force to develop a curriculum; 2) discuss more to develop a competency framework; and 3) discuss online among participants to define the framework and possibly launch it during the UN Public Service Forum in June 2019 or during the HLPF in July 2019.