Foreword

Globally, governments are finding themselves at a critical juncture. They are working to modernise their capacities to deliver on cross-cutting issues whilst facing unprecedented and ongoing health, geopolitical and environmental challenges. The context is further challenged by compounding crises, declining trust in public institutions, growing polarisation, challenges to information integrity, and disengagement with traditional democratic processes. In this light, governments increasingly recognise that they can no longer rely on traditional decision-making practices or siloed ways of working. Instead, they must take more co-ordinated, agile, and proactive action that is founded on trust in public institutions and evidence-informed decision-making.

Centres of government (CoGs) are pivotal in this essential transformation. With their unique central positioning, they are at the heart of steering holistic and coordinated decision-making for governments. They act as the bridge between the political and administrative spheres of government, stewards of setting countries’ visions and priorities, and are pivotal in guiding robust and contemporary practices across the public administration. A well-functioning CoG is critical to help leaders navigate the volatility and complexity of today’s challenges, aligning the entire public administration to deliver results for and with citizens. CoGs can be the key to making government greater than the sum of its parts.

Given the rapidly evolving contexts, CoGs are faced with growing responsibilities and increasing pressure, making it more difficult for them to know how to act. In a complex world with no single solutions, the power of knowledge sharing, and learning from others’ experiences becomes more essential and reinforces the need for sharing experiences.

This compendium seeks to bring together the experiences and lessons learnt from CoGs globally through the work of the OECD Informal Expert Group on Strategic Decision-making at the Centre of Government. It supports policy and decision-makers in considering their own practices at the CoG, with specific, clear, and practical case examples of the work occurring in CoGs in all 26 countries surveyed.

The practices presented cover key CoG roles and functions, ranging from translating the political agenda into the public administration communications, prioritising, coordinating, and aligning actors on cross-cutting issues, responding to crises and disruptions, and enhancing the practice and culture of public administrations. It identifies themes arising from these practices, and a synthesis of common challenges and enablers countries have learnt that can help to drive good governance.

The insights collected demonstrate that a commitment to reinforcing democracy, good governance and building better policies is an ongoing journey where governments are expecting CoGs to continue acting as guides. By sharing and expanding knowledge of key enablers that can help CoGs improve their capacities, this compendium seeks to be a tool that can ultimately help governments achieve better outcomes for societies.