Good Public Governance "Critical For Quality Of Life"

Good public governance is significant for improving the quality of life, Yılmaz Argüden, the founder of the Argüden Governance Academy and chairman of ARGE Consulting, told a conference titled "Good Governance in the Public Sector - Policies and Implementation" recently held in Ankara.

Public sector managers and academics attended the conference organized on May 26 by the Argüden Governance Academy, with the contributions of the OECD and the World Bank.

"As the public sector makes up at least 30 percent of the economies in countries and plays a regulatory role on the rest of those economies, the effectiveness of public administration is critical for the quality of life," Argüden told the conference.

"Three conditions for democratic governance are: to have evidence-based decision making processes, to make use of competitive market structures in areas that it provides services and to set up mechanisms to hear citizens' voices in determining priorities," he added.

Argüden Governance Academy Director Barış Dinçer moderated the event, which was joined by Nick Malyshev, the head of the OECD Regulatory Policy Division, Senior World Bank Economist Mediha Ağar, Argüden Governance Academy Chairman Fikret Toksöz and Prof. Dr. Metin Çakmakçı.

The academy has also launched the Good Governance in Public Sector Certificate Program, with professors from Boğaziçi University and in cooperation with public sector experts' associations, which will last until the end of the year.

The academy was founded in February 2014, in order to conduct activities to share its knowledge on governance with society. - Istanbul