This executive summary is co-authored by William Eggers, Director of the Deloitte Center for Government Insights, and Robyn Scott, CEO of Apolitical.
Everyone had hoped that by 2022 the pandemic would be over and that nations would be getting back to normal—or at least establishing a new normal. But for many countries, the virus continues to create havoc. The pandemic continues to present unique challenges for governments: a health crisis coupled with massive economic disruption and unprecedented demands for social support.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) put it this way: “The biggest lessons of the crisis are that governments will need to respond to future crises at speed and scale while safeguarding trust and transparency.” Even as the pandemic grudgingly recedes, governments have begun the work of building for the future.
Last year, the 'Government Trends 2021' report focused on how governments were seeking to enhance agility, improve operations, and rebuild trust. 'Government Trends 2022' continues to build on those themes, but with a strong focus on how governments are striving to become future-ready. The report captures ten of the most transformative trends in government today, grouped under three themes:
- Building resilience: Focus on long-term resiliency to future shocks.
- Connected for greater value: Overhaul and integration of structures, systems, and data-sharing to drive greater impact.
- Government for all the people: Making programmes and services truly equitable and inclusive.
View the Government Trends 2022 report here
The 2022 report distills extensive research on government, including what’s happening in the trenches. The collaboration this year between Deloitte and Apolitical brings you voices from the frontlines—public servants who are pioneering these innovative trends.
The first 'Government Trends' report was published three years ago. At the time, the report noted the dizzying pace at which our world was being reshaped and the ways in which governments were adapting to these changes. Little did we know that the rate of change would drastically accelerate due to the pandemic. Three years is a relatively short period, and the themes covered in the first two reports are still relevant today. Figure 1 provides a look at all the trends covered in the first three reports, how they are related, and how they have evolved. Some issues, such as digital government, have been a constant theme through the years. Other issues, such as trust in government and ensuring inclusive services, have come to greater prominence more recently. The chart also shows the growing importance of a resilient government.
The 10 trends transforming government in 2022
What makes a trend a trend? To begin with, each trend must be evident in governments around the world—it doesn’t count if it isn’t happening in multiple places. A trend must also have relevance in governments and economies of various sizes. In addition, each trend must have moved beyond small pilots of experimentation and begun to penetrate the heart of government. On the other hand, they should still be emerging rather than a mature, universal practice.
Theme: Building resilience
Resilience is the ability to successfully respond to a disruptive event. Building resilience is a long-term exercise. The pandemic isn’t the only disruption challenging government—technology shifts, climate change, economic disruption, and supply chain issues are just some of the areas in which governments are striving for greater resilience.
Trend 1: Climate-resilient government: How governments are addressing climate change
Climate resilience has risen to the top of government leaders’ agendas, who are increasingly linking climate action to their mission. More and more government agencies, even those not directly linked to the environment, are making climate a priority. For example, city planners are looking at ways to use data analytics to prepare for climate-related disruptions. Governments around the world are also increasingly investing in resilient infrastructure, enhancing communities’ capacity to withstand extreme weather events, and ensuring that disadvantaged communities aren’t left to deal with climate-related risks on their own.
Read more about climate-resilient government
Trend 2: Reshoring and “friendshoring” supply chains: Reshaping supply chains to improve economic resilience
Supply chain problems are creating shortages for both suppliers and consumers, in some cases putting a nation’s access to critical goods at risk. In response, governments are encouraging the reshoring of critical supply chains to reduce external dependencies and increase resilience. Where reshoring is not possible, nations are “friendshoring” by creating a network of trusted suppliers from friendly countries.
Read more about reshoring and “friendshoring” supply chains
Trend 3: Future-proofing the labour force: Enabling the adaptive worker of the future
The COVID-19 pandemic massively disrupted the labour force. Even before that, rapid technological advances were constantly altering the labour landscape, widening the skills mismatch and demand-supply gap for specific jobs. Labour force participation rates are declining, and employee stress is growing, leading to what some have called the “great resignation”. Governments are trying to bring labour policies in line with this new economic reality, with the broader aim of improving labour markets’ efficiency and futureproofing the labour force. These policies include changes to education, skills training, credentialing, and employment frameworks.
Read more about future-proofing the labor force
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Theme: Connected for greater value
Government is trying to overcome challenges that limit its ability to deliver greater impact and address critical problems, especially ecosystem challenges that cross interagency boundaries. Arranging agency structures around “problems” rather than simply departmental boundaries allows governments to respond better to complex societal issues. Data-sharing plays a crucial role in this “silo-hacking” effort by becoming a connecting thread between agencies. Government is also acting as a catalyst in the “innovation ecosystem” to foster better collaboration and more inclusive societal problem-solving. Finally, international collaboratives are gaining momentum to help prepare the world for future health disruptions.
Trend 4: Linked up government: Building connections for greater impact
Silos within and between agencies administering government programmes have long been obstacles to addressing wicked problems, delivering services, and achieving collective results. In response to factors ranging from COVID to rising public expectations for integrated services, governments are creating interagency structures that break silos and connect government agencies to respond to complex citizen needs. For example, a growing number of states and localities in the United States have created “Children’s Cabinets”, through which the heads of related departments work toward collective goals on a range of issues, from early childhood education to disconnected youth programmes.
Read more about linked up government
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Trend 5: Data-fueled government: Breaking down silos with turbo-charged data
The pandemic underlined the importance of sharing data. Effective data-sharing requires underlying infrastructure such as cloud and advanced data management tools–emailing spreadsheets just won’t cut it. Agencies that lacked these tools struggled to catch up, and many established a new role: the chief data officer. This trend toward data collaboration seeks to derive greater benefits from shared data.
Read more about data-fueled government
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Trend 6: Government as catalyst: Driving innovation ecosystems
Government doesn’t have to solve every public problem on its own. Some of government’s greatest achievements have been through playing the catalyst role rather than attempting to do all the heavy lifting on its own. Governments can catalyse innovation in many ways, serving as enabler, funder, convenor, or ecosystem integrator. Governments can accelerate solutions by linking external capabilities to public problem solvers or by advancing next-generation technologies.
Read more about government as catalyst
Trend 7: New era of global public health partnerships: Collaborating for better health preparedness
The pandemic proved that as our world grows more interconnected, we become at greater risk of pathogenic spread. But it also showed how interconnection could help develop a collective and coordinated response to tackle a crisis of this or even greater magnitude. Aided by increasing digitisation, international collaboratives are gaining momentum to help prepare the world for future health disruptions. More and more governments are collaborating with international organisations to develop early warning capabilities, accelerate scientific research and development and build health capacities in less developed nations.
Read more about new era of global health partnerships
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Theme: Government for all the people
The pandemic has thrown a spotlight on diversity, equity, and inclusion. As governments moved services online during the pandemic, it became critical to improve digital access. Moreover, government leaders are reimagining social care programmes to improve service delivery and drive greater impact in disadvantaged communities.
Trend 8: Digital access for all: Equity in digital service delivery
Remote work, virtual classes and telehealth represent just a few of the ways governments used digital tools to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this also brought forth the digital divide and equity issue. For example, 40% of the global population still lacks internet access. Governments are acutely aware that inadequate access to digital connectivity and tools could mean billions of constituents being left out of the broader digitisation movement. In response, governments are improving digital access—availability, affordability and adoption to bridge the digital divide. They are also redesigning digital platforms, ecosystems and infrastructure to help disadvantaged populations access services and social care.
Read more about digital access for all
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Trend 9: Designing for inclusive engagement: Digital communications for richer community connection
Government’s ability to cut through the noise and deliver accurate, important messages to the people who need them is crucial to the success of public sector programmes. Good communication can help build trust, which is important for driving inclusive engagement. Governments are reimagining traditional methods of communication, focusing on how to engage marginalised communities and doing so through new mediums.
Read more about designing for inclusive engagement
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Trend 10: Reimagining social care: Recasting the social safety net
The pandemic has put enormous pressure on social care systems. It has compelled governments to re-examine how they can provide equitable, seamless and effective social care services. As a result, social care leaders are increasingly integrating data across multiple sources to develop early interventions, adopting a human-centred mindset to design and deliver programmes, and providing more holistic “wraparound” support to help recipients quickly gain stability. Also, they’re investing in building the resiliency of individuals and communities.
Read more about reimagining social care
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About the Deloitte Center for Government Insights
The Deloitte Center for Government Insights shares inspiring stories of government innovation, looking at what's behind the adoption of new technologies and management practices. We produce cutting-edge research that guides public officials without burying them in jargon and minutiae, crystalising essential insights in an easy-to-absorb format.
About Apolitical
Apolitical is a social learning platform for government, used by more than 160,000 public servants and policymakers in 170 countries to develop the knowledge, skills, and community they need to operate effectively in the 21st century. Apolitical’s mission is to help build 21st century governments that work for people and the planet.
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