IV Governance and Political Management Program in Peru

This international program strengthens the political and management capacities of citizens and leaders committed to the democratic governance of the country. The program will take place in the cities of Lima, Cuzco, Chiclayo, Iquitos and Arequipa.

(Lima, June 10, 2006).- In a ceremony in the Peruvian Catholic Pontifical University (PUCP), CAF director representative in Peru Germán Jaramillo opened the IV Governance and Political Management Program in Peru. The event was held with the presence of the dean of the PUCP Graduate School, Marcial Blondet, and the special participation of Transparency President Pepi Patrón, who gave a master class on Ethics and Politics.

The initiative is part of the CAF Governance Program which is based on the design and methodology of the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management with local support from PUCP. Its objective is to train professionals, leaders and support teams from government entities to help them develop an integrated approach to development processes in their communities and/or institutions and combine the art and science of politics with the technical instruments of management.

CAF director representative in Peru Germán Jaramillo said that it was necessary to support democratic systems in Latin America by strengthening solid institutions, whose leaders were motivated by values based on democracy, ethics and service, and where citizens have appropriate spaces for participation. "As a critical mass of actors is formed with a strategic game sense and the capacity to resolve conflicts and generate consensus, institutional development is strengthened and the degrees of governance of the countries of the region and their communities are improved," he added.

The participants in the course will receive training, advice and accompaniment in areas such as improvement of tax management, creation of more effective mechanisms of accountability and fiscal control, and design of instruments for citizen participation in budget formulation.

Four work areas have been defined:

• Ethics and transparency
• Institutional strengthening
• Decentralization and citizen participation
• Leadership for the transformation

Following the success of the program, which began in Bolivia in 2001, it has been expanded to all the countries of the Andean region in an effort to achieve the participation of all actors in civil society, and of leaders and their support teams.

Governance Program This CAF Governance Program covers four areas of complementary action: the Ethics and Transparency for Development component which promotes ethical conduct among social actors and the acceptance of accountability and social control to legitimate their actions. The Institutional Strengthening chapter aims to develop government institutions and procedures capable of responding efficiently to the demands of society.

The Decentralization and Citizen Participation area strengthens and trains leaders and support teams from regional and local governments so that they can efficiently carry out their responsibilities. Lastly, the Leadership for the Transformation chapter was conceived to identify potential leaders in the region, and lay the foundation for a new style of leadership, enriching the system of values of leaders and providing them with tools to assume future responsibilities of leadership with ethics and a deep civic and democratic spirit.