Public Institutions Matter More Than Ever

by Patrick Duong

By Governance for Public Goods and Services

October 13^th, 2026

by Patrick Duong, Global Lead, Governance for Public Goods and Services and Chief Strategy and Partnerships, FutureGov, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, UNDP

When people talk about development, they often talk about outcomes: better schools, stronger health care systems, cleaner water, safer communities, and more effective social protection. What they talk about less often are the institutions that make these outcomes possible.

Yet behind every public service that supports and improves our lives is a public institution working to deliver it.

Education systems, for example, depend on ministries that set priorities, public resources that fund schools, administrators who keep systems running, and teachers who educate the next generation. Health care, social protection, public safety, and countless other services rely on similar institutional foundations.

Public services do not deliver themselves. Behind them are institutions and public servants working every day to turn policies and development ambitions into tangible results for people.

CHANGING EXPECTATIONS, NEW DEMANDS

Governments today face increasingly complex challenges, from technological disruption and demographic shifts to climate change and economic uncertainty. At the same time, citizens expect public services to be more accessible, responsive, transparent, and effective.

Governments must rethink how services are designed and delivered, strengthen institutional capabilities, and place people's needs and experiences at the centre of reform. The question is no longer simply how governments can deliver services more efficiently, but how public institutions can adapt to deliver better outcomes in a rapidly changing world.

FROM PARTNERSHIP TO PRACTICE

This question will be central to today's OECD–UNDP–World Bank Group side event, Collaborating Effectively to Deliver Human-Centred Public Services, taking place during the OECD Global Forum on Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy in Paris.

Bringing together senior policymakers, international organisations, and development partners, the event will explore practical approaches to making public services more human-centred and ensuring integrity in service delivery, drawing on international standards, country experiences, and ongoing reform efforts.

A key focus will be the growing collaboration between the OECD, UNDP, and the World Bank Group through the FutureGov coalition. The partnership brings together OECD's work on international standards, analysis and peer learning with UNDP's country-level experience, implementation support and capacity development expertise; and the World Bank Group's expertise on investments de-risking and operational reach in strengthening integrity and preventing corruption risks at the point of service delivery. Together with the World Bank Group, the partners aim to explore how their complementary approaches can support more effective and coordinated public service reforms.

A new video highlighting the OECD–UNDP–World Bank Group partnership illustrates how the three organisations are bringing their complementary strengths together to support more responsive, human-centred public services. It also sets the stage for the discussions in Paris, where the focus will be on turning this shared commitment into practical action.

The aim is to translate these complementary approaches into more coordinated and effective support for governments, moving beyond isolated interventions towards sustained country-level reform.

LEARNING FROM COUNTRY EXPERIENCES

Country perspectives will be central to the discussion in Paris. Policymakers from the Dominican Republic, Senegal, Thailand, Morocco and Côte d'Ivoire will share their experiences, reform priorities, and challenges in improving public service delivery. The side event will also highlight examples of joint work, including in Thailand, to demonstrate how international expertise and country-level implementation can reinforce one another.

These exchanges will offer practical insights into the conditions that enable reform, from institutional coordination and capacity development to service design and ability to anticipate and respond to evolving citizens' needs.

TURNING DIALOGUE INTO ACTION

The Paris event builds on the first FutureGov side event, held during the 25th session of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) in New York in April 2026, which helped establish the foundations for closer collaboration among the partner organisations.

The next step is to translate this commitment into concrete initiatives. A forward-looking discussion will focus on identifying shared priorities, developing opportunities for joint action, and strengthening support for public service reforms at national and regional levels.

Strong public services depend on strong public institutions. Making them fit for the future will require new approaches, shared expertise, and a commitment to working together.

Footnotes

The OECD–UNDP–World Bank Group side event, Collaborating Effectively to Deliver Human-Centred Public Services is supported by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Sub-Fund of the United Nations Peace and Development Trust Fund.

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