In the framework of the South Programme IV, the Venice Commission organised the 13^th UniDem Med Seminar entitled "Public Administration facing the COVID 19 Pandemic: Modernisation and digital innovations", in co-operation with the General Personnel Council of Palestine*. This seminar took place in an hybrid format on 5-6 October 2021.

More than 150 senior public officials from the Southern Mediterranean (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia) and international experts participated online in the event, in addition to 70 Palestinians participants attending face-to-face.

Based on presentations by European and regional experts, participants exchanged experiences during the Covid 19 Pandemic on issues related to digital transformation, modernisation and digital innovations in public administration. The seminar was an opportunity to address the challenges of this digitalisation and in particular data protection and respect for fundamental rights. The impact of digitalisation on the simplification of procedures and the user experience was also discussed based on the presentation of several local experiences. Much have been learned also on teleworking, personnel management and the digitalisation of human resources, including evaluation, training, recruitment and mobility. This seminar was an opportunity to present the standards and work of the Council of Europe in this area and in particular the Arabic version of the “Toolkit on teleworking in Public Administrations” initiated by the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance of the Council of Europe.

The objective of the UniDem Med project (University for Democracy for the Southern Mediterranean) is to contribute through peer-to-peer exchanges to the modernisation of the public administrations in the region by ensuring the effective application of the law and the consolidation of institutions. The project aims to strengthen the legal capacities of senior civil servants in areas related to good governance, rule of law and human rights as well as to build closer ties between the public administrations from the region.

For more information:

• Programme
• Leaflet UniDem Med (English and Arabic)
• List of previous UniDem Med seminars
• Toolkit on teleworking in Public Administrations (English and Arabic)
• Join the UniDem Med community on Facebook 

* This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of Council of Europe and European Union member States on this issue.

The South Programme IV is a joint programme of the Council of Europe and the European Union, financed by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.