Weekly briefing: Nudges for integration and Canada's free agents

Top Stories

Apolitical’s digital government atlas: the world’s best guides and resources. There are hundreds of freely available e-government tools, but no one place to access them all — until now. With this collection, you'll have everything you need to launch a digital revolution in your own department.
(Apolitical)

How can government get top talent? Canada lets 'Free Agents' work where they want. It gives its most innovative civil servants the freedom to choose which projects they work on and allows them to change departments every six to 12 months. 'This is a model every employer should replicate,' said one official.
(Apolitical)

An ex-White House digital champion on her next challenge: bringing innovation to New Jersey. After the state was ranked fifth-worst in the country for digital government, it hired Beth Noveck, its first chief innovation officer. Here’s how she plans to reform and modernise public services.
(Apolitical)

Mobile phone data could speed up crucial aid to disaster victims. When an earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, supplies poured into the country’s capital — but a fifth of its victims had already been displaced. Tracking people via their phones could change the way aid groups respond to disaster.
(Apolitical)

Top Writing From Our Members

Teaching ordinary civil servants design methods can remind them why they joined government. Many go into public service because they want to change things, but get caught up in bureaucracy. Human-centred design puts people back into policy — and it’s easier to learn than you think.
(Virginia Hamilton, American Institutes for Research)

Behavioural science can help governments better integrate migrants. Settling into a new country requires an understanding of complex rules and customs, often in a foreign language. Here are three ways countries can make it easier, from sending SMS prompts to providing translation services.
(Alexandra De Filippo, Chris Larkin and Johannes Lohmann, Behavioural Insights Team_._)

Technology Frontiers

Flint, Michigan will save $10million by using AI to replace broken water infrastructure. An algorithm uses 71 pieces of data, from the value of a home to its age, to predict whether a house is connected to lead pipes. It has a 97% success rate.
(New Scientist)

Colombia is deploying an army of drones to destroy cocaine crops. The government is testing the use of unmanned aircrafts to locate and drop herbicide onto coca plants. The drones’ precision keeps damage to neighbouring crops at a minimum.
(The Wall Street Journal)

Berkeley will become the first US city to issue municipal bonds with cryptocurrency. It’s being promoted as a way to make investing in municipal bonds accessible: while a $5,000 denomination is standard, ‘cryptobonds’ can be issued in as little at $5. They will be used to raise money for affordable housing.
(Governing)

Gender Equality

In a world first, Scotland will make sanitary products free for all students. It aims to end period poverty in a country where nearly one in two girls has had to use alternatives like toilet paper, socks or newspapers. Pads and tampons will be available in all schools, colleges and universities.
(Reuters)

Evolving Cities

Berlin has a plan to keep drug users out of its metro stations: blast ‘atonal’ music. While other cities play classical music to soothe stressed passengers, Berlin will use the jarring electronica to drive anti-social behaviour out of the U-Bahn.
(New York Times)

Refugees and Migration

Sweden’s economy has one of the highest growth rates in Europe thanks to migrants. Economists say it’s because Sweden has got better at integration: new arrivals are getting jobs twice as quickly as immigrants who arrived in the late 2000s. Sweden’s GDP grew by over 3% in the first half of 2018.
(Bloomberg)

Health and Ageing

After hurricane Nate, Costa Rica learned that surveying deaths and financial losses is not enough. Its new natural disaster adaptation plan will outline how municipalities can spot mental health vulnerabilities and measure the psychological toll of disasters.
(Thomson Reuters)

Energy, Environment and Economic Opportunity

Bangkok designed a flood-proof park in anticipation of worsening climate change. Built on a slope, the 11-acre park can hold nearly 1million gallons of rainwater in a retention pond and storage tanks. The water will be saved and used for irrigation during dry season.
(Fast Company)

And finally

‘This Is Not a Street’ is one of Brussels’ newest roads. The city asked citizens for helping naming 28 new streets and squares, and received 1,400 submissions. New roads include ‘Place of Great People’, ‘Passage of the Fries’ and ‘Path to a Better World’..
(Quartz)

Do you know of groundbreaking work in government that we should be writing about? Please send any pointers to ideas@apolitical.co.

(Picture credit: Pexels)