WUSC Student Refugee Program – 30th year and 1000 students

Tonight I attended a reception at Oakham House, Ryerson University organized by the World University Service of Canada to celebrate the 30th year and the 1000th student under their Student Refugee Program.

The Student Refugee Program focuses on young refugees whose academic aspirations have been by conflict in their countries of origin. The program allows refugees not only to settle in Canada but also allows them to continue their postsecondary education. This is a tremendous program that has allowed 1000 refugees to contribute to Canadian society.

I had the pleasure of speaking to Marangu Njogo the Executive Director of the Windle Trust Kenya who is also a WUSC Board member. The Windle Trust Kenya is WUSC partner in Kenya helping refugees that are selected to the Student Refugee Program prepare for their Canadian adventure. Mr. Njoga and I had a very interesting talk about the sad situation that is happening in Kenya.

Anyway for those who are interested in learning more about the Student Refugee Program, please visit the WUSC website at www.wusc.ca

Open Source Government - Faceless Book

You may have heard that a number of governments have banned or restricted access to Facebook for their employees. I wrote about this in the last issue of our magazine – Public Sector Management. You can read the article on-line by going here http://www.ipac.ca/PSMEditorial_Dec2007 . I won’t repeat all my arguments here.

Governments have done this in the mistaken belief that employees will waste time going on Facebook. It is not as if employees who want to waste time don’t have any other options, right? How about surfing the net, or talking on the phone, or reading a newspaper or a book, or talking with colleagues? If you have a productivity issue with certain employees, deal with it! Don’t ban what could be a tremendous collaborative tool. There is the potential for Facebook like collaborative tools to be used to really connect with citizens and to leverage the intellectual capacity of society to solve issues. We should be embracing this technology.

Given that in the traditional understanding of public service, public servants are supposed to be faceless, I have come up with the idea of creating a new networking tool for public servants across Canada. They will thus be able to network with their peers and with ordinary citizens. This tool can help in the development of policy and in finding solutions to societal issues. I call this “Faceless Book”. So what do you think? Would you join Faceless Book?

Open-Source Policy Development - Part I

Tomorrow approximately half of eligible voters in the US will be casting votes for either Republican or Democratic candidates as part of the primary process. One thing that will stand out in this great democratic exercise is the extensive use of technology to get the message out.

It seems that all camps are utilizing technology – interactive website, videos on YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, etc – to get their message out. Some campaigns have done this better than others. I was struck by the effectiveness of the Obama campaign to reach and mobilize younger voters (those aged 18 -29) who have responded to his message and have come out and vote in greater numbers than in the past. In fact, in some primaries so far, their vote has matched the percentage of older voters who exercised their democratic franchise. This is quite amazing. I think that part of the reason is the messenger and his message of Hope and part of the reason is his ability to connect with younger voters in the way that they connect with each other – using technology.

I came across a video on YouTube that combines music and one of his speeches entitled “Yes, We Can” you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY This is but one example of what is out there in cyberspace.

Hilary Clinton is no slouch when it comes to the web either – if you go to her YouTube site (http://youtube.com/hillaryclinton ) you will see over 200 videos posted. (BTW Obama has close to 600 videos on his YouTube site).

I think what this tells us is that the old media and the methods of communicating ideas are changing rapidly. New technologies provide for a cost-effective way to delivering a message without the “filter” of traditional news organizations. These technologies also allow governments to connect with citizens. And these technologies, if used properly should allow for an interactive dialogue between citizens and their government on a myriad of issues.

I have been thinking lately, that one of the ways we can increase citizen engagement in government is to move to what I have termed “open-source policy”. This would be akin to Linux, IBM and P&G, etc who utilize open-source methodologies to develop their products. In this way, government can mobilize the intellectual capital of all its citizens in developing solutions to societal problems. No one has a monopoly on good ideas. In the next while, I will write some more on this topic and hopefully I can find examples of governments who have been brave enough to embark on this journey. By the way, I am not talking about the annual “pre-budget consultations” that governments hold or the one-way presentation of briefs to parliamentary committees, etc. I am talking about an open, interactive and collaborative way to develop public policy.

Public Policy vs. Public Administration - Part II

This is a follow-up to a post I did last December on public policy versus public administration. A friend at the new U of T school of Public Policy and Governance sent me the following:

A butterfly and a giraffe fell madly, desperately in love. However, they were frustrated because they've been unable to consummate their relationship. The giraffe, determined to solve this dilemma, went in search of an answer from the wise old owl.

"Dear wise owl, I have a problem. I've fallen in love with a butterfly but we are just unable to move ahead and show our love for one another...what can we do?" the giraffe asked.

"Well," the owl said thoughtfully, "this is a dilemma." He paused, and the giraffe waited anxiously for a response. After a few minutes, the owl turned to the giraffe and said, "you'll have to turn into a butterfly. This way you can consummate your relationship and go forth with your lives together."

The giraffe was excited with this answer and exclaimed "Yes! That's it!! Thank you, wise owl." He took a few steps away, and then turned back to ask, "But, wise owl, how am I to do that?"

The owl replied, "Oh, well, I am just the policy owl. You'll have to speak to someone else about implementation."