On the United front

Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. Universal primary education. Ensuring environmental sustainability.

These are just a few of the eight United Nation’s Millennium Goals, established in 2000, each with specific targets and dates attached. The work to achieve them requires experts from countless fields.

Earlier this year, Eddy Ng of Dalhousie’s Rowe School of Business was invited to the United Nations headquarters in New York as an academic observer. The occasion: the 12th session of the Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA), part of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

CEPA holds annual meetings and provides guidelines on public administration issues related to the implementation of the UN’s Internationally Agreed Development Goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.

Dr. Ng was also representing the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC).

“As an academic observer, I represented IPAC and Canada to network with member countries including China Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, particularly in providing Canadian expertise on public administration/sector management training and development; and to interact and participate in CEPA sessions,” he explains.

Making connections

CEPA’s meeting was focused on the role of responsive and accountable public governance in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and the post-2015 development agenda. “Good public administration is key to achieving the MDG,” adds Dr. Ng.

He says the experience was both enjoyable and unique, both for enhancing his personal and professional understanding of the UN — particularly towards his research interests in immigration, diversity and inclusion — and the networking opportunity from connecting with colleagues from other countries.

“The UN is often known for global conflict resolution and peacekeeping, but also plays an important role in development,” he says. “I was proud to be able to draw examples from Canada in some of the discussions on brain drain from developing nations.”