2018•01•09     Guimarães

Continuing its Government Fellowship Programme in 2018, UNU-EGOV has welcomed to Guimarães, in January, a total of three new Government Fellows: Franklin Ziggah (Ghana), Shahid Farooq (Pakistan), and Wagner Araujo (Brazil).

The Programme, offered every year on a rolling basis, provides an opportunity for civil servants (or with international civil servant status) from public administration, government, or intergovernmental organizations, with responsibilities or concerns on the use of IT in the public sector for modernization and innovation purposes, to integrate the Operating Unit multidisciplinary teams. The fellowship lasts, usually, for a period of three months, and the Government Fellows maintain the connection and contractual status with the organization they are affiliated to. The work programme devised for each Fellow is focused on potential areas of collaboration, for example, in building capacity and applying policy instruments within governments and other relevant organizations, while contributing to UNU-EGOV research, projects, and activities.

Wagner is currently an Advisor of the National Secretary of Information and Communication Technology, part of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Administration of Brazil, and his research interests are focused on co-creation and co-production, digital government, open data, open governance, and open government services. On the other hand, Shahid holds the position of Chief Governance & IT at the P&D Department, Government of the Punjab, Pakistan. His research interests are related to digital democracy, e-Government, e-Participation, and smart cities. Last but not least, Franklin comes from Ghana, where he is an e-Government Analyst for the National Information Technology Agency of the country. Franklin’s research interests deal in the area of e-Government strategy and management, emerging technologies for digital transformation, and cybersecurity.

The Government Fellowship Programme is one of the key institutional developments of UNU-EGOV, and one I intend to keep running in the upcoming years. This programme started officially in early 2016 and, since then, we have welcomed 7 people from different countries and regions of the world, for example, we had Government Fellows from Uganda, China, Madagascar, Georgia, Russia, Oman, to name a few. This shows the Operating Unit global reach, which is very important to us.

The Programme also helps us bridge the research and policy worlds, and bring to the table people who work daily in the real issues of a given country, which, in turn, allows us to better understand how policies can impact citizen’s life. I am really glad that Franlkin, Shahid, and Wagner joined us, and I am sure that we will have more Government Fellows from other countries and regions joining as well in the future. I hope their stay in Portugal, and in Guimarães in particular, is a pleasant and fruitful one! – Delfina Soares, Head of UNU-EGOV

The three new Government Fellows are welcomed by the Head of UNU-EGOV. From left to right: Franklin Ziggah, Delfina Soares, Wagner Araujo, and Shahid Farooq. (Photo by Mário Peixoto, UNU-EGOV)