What have we learned from 2020?

On the state of public risk management

Presentation by Jack Kruf with co-presentation by Leen Paape | March 2021

Jack Kruf

What have we learned from 2020? A reflection as a farewell lecture. Farewell. I felt a bit of resistance whilst shaving this morning. I’m not really one for goodbyes. But anyway, here I am.

Jack Kruf

This will be a plea to give the field of public risk management a boost. But answering the question? That’s not so simple. Geert Mak said it at the launch of his book Great Expectations: “Interpreting history isn’t easy when you’re still in the thick of it.” 

With many friends and colleagues watching on TV, and with my family here at home. It’s lovely to have you all here. I’ll try to shed some light on things. Together with Professor Leen Paape. An honour. It will be a three-part series, taking turns. Three questions are central, followed by a brief conclusion:

  • What is the issue at the start of 2021?
  • What is the intervention?
  • What is the associated governance?

Leen Paape

Professor at Nyenrode following a career that alternated between the public and private sectors. Started at the Military Academy in Breda and, after the Ministry of Defence, briefly worked at KPMG, then KLM, PwC and finally Nyenrode. I have served on an Audit and Risk Committee for the Municipality of Rotterdam and the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, and I now oversee an insurer, a pension fund and a large school organisation. 

Leen Paape

My driving forces are accountancy, risk management and corporate governance issues. I have seen quite a few things go wrong and would like to help prevent that from happening.

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Van cijfers en controle naar waarden en vertrouwen

Over een paradox en de zoektocht

Jan Willem Dijk, Theo Dijkstra, Eric Frank en Jack Kruf  | 4 juni 2015

Over een paradox en de zoektocht. Een essay naar aanleiding van een ronde tafel op uitnodiging van de gemeenten Assen, Groningen en Leeuwarden. Een multidisciplinair gezelschap buigt zich over de volgende vraag: ‘Wat zijn belangrijke waarden in het krachtenveld tussen cijfers en controle aan de ene kant en waarden en vertrouwen aan de andere kant?’

Het gezelschap wordt welkom geheten door Jan Willem Dijk, gastheer namens het PRIMO-lid de gemeente Assen. Noord-Nederland wordt in nieuw perspectief geplaatst. Gespreksleider Jack Kruf begint met een voorstelronde zodat eenieder weet wie aan tafel zit, wat zijn of haar achtergrond is en de fascinatie met het thema. Hij benadrukt de veelzijdigheid in vakgebied (techniek, gemeente, waterschap) en functie (raadslid, wethouder, controller, gemeentesecretaris) deze middag en onderstreept het belang daarvan voor een dialoog die ons kan helpen in het vinden van de weg die leidt van cijfers en controle naar waarden en vertrouwen. Download het verslag (inclusief foto’s).

De deelnemers aan de Ronde Tafel. Tweede rij v.l.n.r.: Theo Dijkstra (gemeente Groningen én Assen, alleen deze dag), Lucas-Jan Hooykaas (Wetterskip Fryslân), Theo Berends (gemeente Eemsmond), Kees Swagerman (gemeente Oldambt), Wouter Slob (gemeente Medemblik), Arnold van Kampen (gemeente Rotterdam), Jeltje Hoekstra-Sikkema (gemeente Terschelling), Atze Dijkstra (Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland), Harry Bevers (gemeente Leeuwarden). Eerste rij v.l.n.r. Jack Kruf (PRIMO Europe), Eric Frank (PRIMO Nederland), Huibert van Wijngaarden (RISNET), Ilhan Tekir (gemeente Utrecht), Arie van Eck (gemeente Rijssen-Holten), Jan Willem Dijk (gemeente Assen), Kees Tillema (Universiteit Groningen).

De gespreksleider licht kort toe hoe de vereniging PRIMO is ontstaan. Op 1 april 2005 is in Straatsburg de vereniging opgericht door de Europese Vereniging van Gemeentesecretarissen (UDITE). Op 6 oktober 2006 volgde de oprichting van PRIMO Nederland door de toenmalige Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten (BNG), Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties (BiZa) en de Vereniging van Gemeentesecretarissen (VGS). Hij gaat kort in op het toenemend belang voor en de behoefte van publieke leiders en managers aan resultaatsturing en het management van risico’s daarbij. Risicomanagement wordt steeds meer gezien als een integraal onderdeel van goed publiek bestuur.

PRIMO is erop gericht kennis te delen over de grenzen van landen, regio’s en gemeenten heen. Er valt veel van elkaar te leren. Welkom bij deze ronde tafel, waar vrijuit gesproken moet worden.

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PRIMO Risk Management Award 2019: Paul Hofstra

Uitgereikt te Rotterdam op 18 september 2020 aan Paul Hofstra.

The board of PRIMO Netherlands and the board of PRIMO Europe have awarded the PRIMO Risk Management Award 2019 to Paul Hofstra for his courage and leadership at the intersection of public value, public risk and governance.

Paul Hofstra

The award is based, on the one hand, on his mature leadership as a board member and director of the Rotterdam Court of Audit and, on the other, on his professional contributions to the precise and essential application of the principles of risk management, as set out, for example, in the reports Heat Without a Pipeline and Public Value Under Pressure.

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Public value under pressure

Headlines from ten years of audit reports

City of Rotterdam | 2019

The Audit Office has investigated the substantive similarities (‘common themes’) found in the conclusions of 42 reports it published on the municipality of Rotterdam between 2009 and 2019.

Administrative overconfidence and excessive regulation

The council is repeatedly overconfident in its plans and consequently takes on too many (financial) risks. Furthermore, the council often relies too heavily on rules and procedures, paying too little attention to practical implementation issues and residents’ everyday lives. These and other conclusions are set out in the Audit Office’s report ‘Public value under pressure’, a summary of dozens of investigations carried out by the Rotterdam Audit Office in the municipality of Rotterdam since 2009.

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Cracks appearing in financial relations

On investment and solvency

Jack Kruf en Caspar Boendermaker | juni 2019

In April 2019, in consultation with BNG Bank, the annual PRIMO/UDITE meeting of the ‘From Global to Local’ think tank took place. Around 15 public-sector leaders met with BNG Bank to discuss the challenges facing local authorities.

The cracks in the local authority’s financial system are clearly visible.

The recently published Global Risks Report 2019 by the World Economic Forum and a presentation by the City of Delft revealed cracks in the financial situation. Is the financial resilience of the city and region at risk?

Transitions require investment, whilst the council’s solvency is under pressure.

The City of Delft presented its ambitious long-term investment strategy. Investments totaling at least 1.4 billion euros are planned through 2040, of which the council will have to cover approximately 25%.

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Resilient Cities Catalyst

Resilient Cities Catalyst | 2019

In partnership with a community of urban resilience actors, RCC leverages experience and a pioneering ecosystem of partners and practitioners to apply lessons, insights, and resources to advance this critical work. RCC works with cities to build the local capacities and partnerships needed to understand, prioritise and concretely address each city’s risk and chronic stress as it pursues strategic goals or recovers from a crisis.

Urban Practitioners

RCC is a network of urban practitioners with deep experience in municipal government service design and delivery, public and private funding and financing, and philanthropic partnership development.

“Our resilience approach rests on three pillars – integrated assessment, planning and action, inclusive governance, and a forward-looking risk-based methodology.”

RCC’s resilience approach rests on three pillars – integrated assessment, planning and action, inclusive governance, and a forward-looking risk-based methodology – that build lasting capacity to address the deep-rooted problems that often impede progress at the project, neighbourhood, city and regional scales.

Their professional experiences cover a breadth of technical domains, from economic development to affordable housing to climate change adaptation to urban mobility and beyond. We know the way cities budget, the way cities plan and procure, and how cities operate.

Resilience Experts

RCC is a network of resilience experts who are pioneers in the urban resilience movement. They have collectively partnered with more than 100 cities worldwide to catalyse and support their resilience-building journeys to deliver impact for their communities.

Strategic Conveners

RCC is a group of strategic conveners who understand the importance of bringing uncommon partners and practitioners together. They have built action-oriented communities of practice and networks of diverse actors centred on complex challenges like urban migration, natural infrastructure, seismic resilience, and more.

The secret of risk management

John O’Dea | April 2009

Risk Management is as old as Methuselah. Although there are no records in the book of Genesis that indicate that Adam and Eve carried out a risk assessment, their world and ours might have been a different place had they given it some thought.

John O’Dea

The world might also have been a different place had the developed nations – with their reputedly state of the art management tools – applied them with the base integrity assumed in any formalized risk management process.

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