This year's International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA) conference, held from 31 July to 4 August 2023, was hosted by the  National College of Public Administration and Governance at the University of the Philippines in Manila. The thought-provoking conference topic of  ‘BUILDING BETTER FUTURES OF GOVERNANCE TOWARDS ACHIEVING THE SDGS IN A VUCA WORLD’ attracted a wide range of academics and practitioners from across the globe. The acronym VUCA was explored as meaning the Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous context of governance as well as the positive alternative of having Vision, Understanding, Clarity and Agility to solve the complex problems of public administration in achieving the SDGs.

The SPMA was represented at the conference by Prof Natasja Holtzhausen, Prof Michel Tshiyoyo and Brenda Vivian. As the chair of the I.D.E.A.L Committee, Prof. Holtzhausen hosted a vibrant panel discussion on ‘Shaping the success of organisations in the VUCA world by mainstreaming Gender and Youth in Public Governance to achieve SDGs. She also presented a paper entitled ‘An exploration of industry, infrastructure and digital transformation in government departments’ which was co-authored with Dr. Nhede and Mr. Sipho Ngomane. Prof Tshiyoyo delivered a presentation on ‘Monitoring and evaluation of the democratic and political governance in the Democratic Republic of Congo’. As the SPMA’s academic literacy specialist, Vivian’s paper argued for ‘Advancing a VUCA responsive public service through curricular and non-curricular writing support for postgraduate students in the SPMA’. 

The stimulating plenary sessions, as well as the working group presentations, sparked fruitful debates, conversations and possible collaborations which will see academics and practitioners committedly working together to improve global governance in a VUCA environment in order to achieve the SDGs.