A Day in the Sun for Public Servants

Ah, the humble public servant. This much-maligned character, often referred to as “bureaucrat,” “government paper pusher” or "The Man" (as in “I work for The Man” not “You’re the Man!”), deserves his day in the sun, too.

But who will give it to him when his office has no windows and even the lunchroom where he eats his egg salad is a dim cave lit only by the eerie glow of the soda machine? Well, it’s the United Nations to the rescue! It turns out that since 2003, today, June 23, is the day set aside for appreciating the public servants among us. It’s U.N. Public Service Day, designed to recognize that good governance depends on the dedication of a talented civil service and to encourage young people to pursue this career path.

So let’s toss our hats in the air for those who serve government and multilateral organizations around the world. They work hard to make things better and rarely receive the recognition they deserve.

The 2009 United Nation's Public Service Awards, presented in a ceremony at the U.N.’s New York headquarters today, recognize innovative public service programs in countries far and wide. This year’s winners include a mobile health clinic in Zambia, an online portal that facilitates university enrollment in Egypt and a multilingual system to enable wider use of key public services in Canada. A variety of other programs are making improvements in countries from Sweden to Slovenia to Thailand.