The PSA awards, introduced in 2000 by the U.N. and managed by its Department for Economic and Social Affairs, recognizes the efforts by public organizations and agencies around the world in bettering transparency and accountability of public services and improving their delivery and responsiveness.
The ministry grabbed the prize in the category of ``Special Award in Innovation.’’
The ministry said it was highly evaluated by the U.N. for its development of the Government Innovation Index (GII), a formula introduced in 2005 to mathematically measure the level of innovation achieved in public organizations and evaluate their level of services.
``With the ministry awarded by the U.N., we believe that a lot of other countries will show interest in our GII measurement tool and seek its deployment,’’ said Lee Yong-sup, the minister of government administration and home affairs, in a news conference yesterday.
``U.N. officials evaluated our GII model as highly effective and accountable,’’ he said.
The GII measures public organizations by three categories _ the organizational readiness of innovation, consistency of innovation strategies and activities and the results of strategies.
The GII survey is carried through the Internet, conducted by question and answer sessions of randomly selected employees at public organizations.
The Internet-based model gives the GII advantages in accessibility and data analysis, according to the Home Affairs Ministry.
The PSA awards are given to public organizations divided under the regional categories of Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and North America, Latin America and Western Asia.
The Rijnland Internet Election System of the Netherlands, the National Examinations Council of Rwanda and the End Domestic Violence Project of the Provincial Court of Manitoba in Canada were among the winners of the awards.
Autor: Kim Tong-hyung
Quelle: The Korea Times, 26.04.2006
