Banmujer: Benefitting Over 300,000 Venezuelan Families Since 2001 > One of Venezuela’s most important public institutions created as a government run bank with the specific purpose of funding socio-productive business initiatives to assist impoverished women through micro- credit lending celebrated its 10-year anniversary last week. Banking on the Big Society > Social entrepreneurs have been lionised for a decade, but the downside is that they are now expected to shoulder a growing share of society’s … more
Public Service in the News
PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | Privatisation, community activism & UK public service cuts
What Real Choice Have I Got? > while we’re all out here seeing quite clearly that privatisation made everything worse, they’re busy arguing for more private companies and greater individual choice. It’s so market-eager, so decentralised, so big society. And it’s a handily neat example that the principle doesn’t bloody work. Amid all the incoherent ‘big society’ talk, consider Christiania, a democratic Danish community celebrating 40 years of autonomy > If you really want to … more
PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | Public service workers, charities and the US
America’s inhumane approach to labour problems will finish Obama > The US remedy for their plight is similar to the idea behind Britain’s “big society”: leave it to churches, voluntary associations and “the community” to sort out the personal and family consequences of long-term unemployment. In practice, that means individuals are thrown back on themselves, since one real effect of the recession has been to beggar many of these civil-society institutions. Familiar as this issue … more
PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | Tony Abbott and the public service, Gay communities, community development in Canada
We are pledged to real reform > Tony Abbot reveals a very ‘Big Society’ like vision for Australia. “To the Coalition, productivity enhancement mostly comes from liberating individuals and institutions from the stifling grip of unnecessary rules or second-guessing bureaucracies. Working with the states to establish community-controlled public hospitals and independent public schools should enhance productivity because more autonomous management should be able to get more value from each taxpayer dollar. Our commitment to reduce … more
PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | Shorten defends public servants amid surplus announcements
Wiltshire libraries saved by more than 300 volunteers > “Mr Thomson, deputy leader at the conservative-led council, added: “The Big Society was going on in Wiltshire when Osborne and Cameron were still at Eton. It was here long before they came along. I don’t think volunteers are on the cheap, they’re giving their time and experience to the libraries.” We’re pushing to budget surplus: Shorten > Talk of returning the budget to surplus turns to … more
PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | Small Public Service An ‘Easy Target’
Is the obsession by some politicians and media commentators with a return to surplus placing the quality of Australia’s public services at risk? CPD’s recent study The State of the Public Service: An Alternative Report suggests that unnecessary cuts to the APS in order to hastily get back into the black are generally not favoured by the majority of Australians. Many politicians are out of sync with the prevailing attitudes, with some 70 per cent … more
PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | Is UK’s ‘Open Public Services’ White Paper the risky road to privatisation?
Wandsworth councillors clock up 40 years of public service > Two councillors saw their four decades of public service in local Government marked this week at a special ceremony hosted by the mayor of Wandsworth Councillor. Zimbabwe Public Service Minister Mukonoweshuro Dies in South African Hospital > Former University of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor Gordon Chavunduka said Zimbabwe has lost a serious and hardworking individual who was dedicated to his work as an academic and a … more
PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | John Seddon on ‘deliverology’ in the public service
Deliverology destroys services > In this video Professor John Seddon addresses the California Faculty Association on the dangers posed by Sir Michael Barber’s (former head of Toby Blair’s Delivery Unit – and dubbed ‘Mr Targets’ by the UK press) ‘Deliverology’. John Seddon provides compelling evidence that Deliverology not only failed in the UK, but actually made services worse and increased costs. CPD will host a seminar with John in Sydney, August 31st. Find more … more
PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | U.K. responses to ‘Big society’
This week’s news summary tracks UK public service reforms. ‘Big Society’ is stirring folks up! David Cameron to unveil blueprint for public services > At a speech in London, the PM will vow to end the “take-what-you’re given” culture, and deliver “more freedom, more choice and more local control”. He wants to allow companies, charities and community groups to bid to run everything from local health services to schools, libraries and parks… Clegg keeps distance … more
PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | Q: What is the plural noun for public servants?
A: An agency. Public service critics and detractors are rarely so kind. Pledges to reduce the size of public service agencies are a routine element of political and media cycles. Kevin Rudd spoke of ‘administrative bloating’ when the Howard Government began to recruit public servants after years of dramatic down-sizing. More recently, Joe Hockey promised to axe 12,000 public servants upon election “for starters”. [link to source?] We have been researching staffing levels and trends … more