CAF analyzes the public policies for development in its 2015 RED Report presented in Madrid
Quality bureaucracy, effective system for public purchases, citizen participation in decision making, and learning about public policies are the key elements to identify the advances and challenges that Latin America faces in coming years
"A more effective State: Capacities for the design, implementation, and learning of public policies" is the title of the 2015 Economy and Development Report (RED), edited by CAF, Development Bank of Latin America. The report makes an in-depth analysis of the capacities of the states to improve public interventions to promote development.
The report, presented in Madrid at the Casa de America, mentions four basic elements to achieve optimal results; quality bureaucracy, effective systems for public purchases, citizen participation for decision making, and learning about public policies.
In the inauguration of the event, Guillermo Fernández de Soto, CAF's Director for Europe, underlined that the 2015 Report is an essential transmitter to learn how the State may improve its actions. This is a subject of great importance according to Fernández de Soto, as the capacity of the institutions to execute public policies is frequently the object of criticisms. For this reason, CAF's Director for Europe concluded that a really useful State must develop the capacities that are necessary to design and apply these policies which must, in turn, generate learning for future actions,
After the words of Fernández de Soto, Pablo Sanguinetti proceeded to present the 2015 RED. During his intervention, the Corporate Director of CAF's Economic Analysis and Knowledge for Development stated that it is important to seek an improvement of the actions focused on providing services that generate changes in the lives of individuals. Sanguinetti continued his presentation with an analysis of this study, focused on Latin America, dissecting the four significant subjects analyzed in the report.
Among the aspects that stand out in the report is the fact that in the 2014 CAF Survey, 76 percent of those consulted agreed or fully agreed that corruption is a problem for the provision of quality public services, exceeding the 71 percent and 60 percent that considers inefficiency and the low level of training of public employees (respectively) as a problem.
"Increasing the control and supervision of public purchases may reduce inefficiency and corruption, but it also implies loss of flexibility and autonomy. This apparent conflict may be reduced with initiatives that increase transparency and competition in transactions", explained Sanguinetti.
The document also identified that it is of vital importance to empower citizens so that their participation is more effective, reducing the costs of their interaction with the State, frequently gathering their concerns and levels of satisfaction with the services provided, and showing them that there will be specific and prompt responses to their concerns.
With respect to the chapter on learning about public policies, the report shows that only 4 percent of the evaluations are made by the government (alone or associated to another institution), although it is responsible for 70 percent of the programs.
This event ended with a discussion panel moderated by Miguel Ángel Cortés, Director of the Ibero-American Entrepreneurial Foundation, which included the participation of Angelina Trigo, Director of the Oficina para la Ejecución de la Reforma de la Administración del Ministerio de la Presidencia (Office for the Execution of the Reform of the Administration of the Ministry of the Presidency), who explained the intense work carried out by her department to update the Spanish administration regarding the transparency of its actions, although she recognized that it was necessary to relate it more and better, as recommended by CAF's report. Manuel Alcántara, Director of FLACSO Spain and Professor at the University of Salamanca also participated in the event. From an academic point of view, he praised the usefulness of the report and its timeliness, reviewing some specific aspects with the report's presenter Pablo Sanguinetti.
In summary, an effective State needs; quality bureaucracy, an effective system for public purchases, interaction between the citizens and the service providers, and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation.
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