A new international network for organisations working with public risk management...

A new international network for organisations working with public risk management – risknetwork.org – is being launched to advance the practice of effective public sector risk management throughout the world. Sue Copeman reports

Public sector risk management is not just about managing the risks public entities face, but about being a catalyst for managing broader social, and even international, risks. So says risknetwork.org, the International Forum for Public Risk Management.

Risknetwork.org is being spearheaded by the Centre for Risk Management in Copenhagen (CfR). Director Finn Kjaer Jensen explains: "The idea of a global body for public risk management has been discussed several times. In August 2002, representatives from the US and from several European countries gathered in Copenhagen. Among them were delegates from PRIMA and ALARM, representatives from educational units and local governments, people from auditing, the broker, insurance and reinsurance industry, who worked with risk management on a national and global scale.

"In Copenhagen, we agreed to form an international network in the hope of improving the exchange of information and of providing a vehicle for the advocacy of risk management within the public sector. There was general agreement across the borders that time had come to take public risk management to the next stage by establishing such a international body. So we wrote a business plan."

This plan points out that risk management is in an important period of transition. In the past, it has been viewed as a technical area of management, but developments in the discipline, combined with advances in related areas of management, have pushed modern public sector risk management to a new level of sophistication. This imposes significant challenges. According to risknetwork.org, modern public risk management:

  • poses interesting questions about the scope of risk management and what risk managers need to know to be effective
  • raises concerns about how elected officials and managers can learn about risk management and its relationship to public sector management
  • emphasises the need for an international exchange of concepts, principles and practices
  • questions the ability of any existing risk management firms or associations to advance the cause of the new risk management
  • offers great promise in improving the quality of public sector management and decision-making.

    The implication of these points is that there is a need for a champion for the new risk management. The champion must have a broad vision of the scope and substance of risk management, must have an international focus, must facilitate an exchange of new knowledge, and must energise a wide variety of organisations with a stake in the success of public sector risk management.

    Purpose
    Risknetwork.org has three fundamental purposes:

  • to be the global network for the exchange of information on public sector risk management
  • to initiate and lead the development of public sector risk management
  • to be a vehicle for the advocacy of risk management in the public sector

    Membership services will include:

  • a news service
  • articles, reports, standards, etc, grouped in relevant categories and stored in a database
  • fully searchable site and archive
  • updates on general and indexed topics
  • easy access to exchange of knowledge and information on risk management via web conferences
  • information on newest methods and concepts
  • news on latest technology
  • a newsletter
  • links to risk-related topics and organisations.

    As the network will be composed of a diversity of organisations, there will be opportunities for new ways of thinking about risk management to emerge. In the long term, it will seek to represent the views and interest of its member organisations to international policy-making and regulatory entities.

    Formal establishment of risknetwork.org is scheduled to take place on 28 August at the annual conference in Copenhagen.

    Further information is available from Finn Kjaer Jensen, Tel: +45 38 14 53 35, E-mail: fkj@dfhnet.dk

    Sue Copeman is editor, StrategicRISK

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