Keys for the design, implementation, and learning of public policies

In order to contribute new elements for the analysis of the capacities of the State that improve government management, CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, prepared the 2015 Economy and Development Report (RED, for its acronym in Spanish), entitled " Un Estado más efectivo. Capacidades para el diseño, la implementación y el aprendizaje de políticas públicas" (A more effective State. Capacities for the design, implementation, and learning of public policies).

The study, presented in Uruguay at the Spanish Cooperation Training Center, included the participation of Alvaro Garcia, Director of the Planning and Budget Office (OPP, for its acronym in Spanish), Roberto Varela, Spanish Ambassador in Uruguay, and Gladis Genua, CAF's Director Representative in Uruguay, in addition to Victor Rossi, Minister of Transportation and Public Works, and Ernesto Murro, Minister of Labor and Social Security. 

The document, based on the analysis of evidence and programs developed in several countries of the region, identifies four essential aspects that need to be addressed to improve policy management and public services. The presence of a quality bureaucracy, a purchasing system that facilitates getting key inputs for the effective execution of programs, an active citizenship that strengthens accountability, and an impact monitoring and evaluation scheme, were considered to be essential to achieve successful governmental initiatives. 

Pablo Sanguinetti, CAF's Director of Economic Analysis and Knowledge for Development, was in charge of presenting the report. He highlighted that "many times countries fail in the design and implementation of public policies because they do not consider those four pillars". 

With respect to bureaucracy, Sanguinetti stated, "government officials require technical capacities for the job, integrity, motivation for public work, ad adequate incentives". In this respect, he explained that Latin American countries show salary inequities between the public and private sectors, especially in the case of more qualified jobs, added to difficulties to develop a career and a poor correlation between salary and performance. 

CAF's Director of Economic Analysis and Knowledge for Development stated that to improve the quality of the public administration it is necessary to have compensation schemes that attract the best employees, and to adapt the salary structures to correlate salaries and the development of a career to the competencies, skills, and the level of efforts of bureaucrats. 

Another finding of the 2015 RED is that citizen participation is an important external control factor that helps improve the performance of the State. He pointed out that in the region there are spaces to increase citizen participation, especially through non electoral mechanisms, and to increase the quality of the information that the State provides its citizens, so that this participation may be more effective. 

During his presentation, Sanguinetti also highlighted the importance of the new information and communications technologies as tools to increase interaction between the citizenship and public service providers, and how this greater interaction impacts positively on the design and implementation of public policies.  

At the same time, Gladis Genua, CAF's Director Representative in Uruguay, referred to the Institution's motivation to develop, in this case, a detailed study of the conditions that are necessary for the State to have a more effective role in the development of the countries. She expressed, "As a development bank, we are convinced that it is not enough to finance projects, but that it is also necessary to generate and contribute knowledge of the region that helps develop adequate public policies. The effectiveness of the State is not measured only by the design of policies. Good management is required to make these policies reach the population in an effective manner". 

Alvaro Garcia, Director of the Planning and Budget Office (OPP, for its acronym in Spanish), highlighted the relevance of the issues addressed, and stated that "it is essential to measure the weight and functioning of the State". He explained that "reforms imply processes that require a strong political will", so they must be addressed based on the knowledge of the different factors that influence decisions. One of the aspects highlighted by Garcia was the importance of the implementation of a third level of government, indicating that "we must reverse the arrow and look at the citizen's view, which provides a significant effectiveness when evaluating the needs".  

The presentation of the 2015 RED concluded with comments by Pedro Apezteguía, OPP's Director of Decentralization and Public Investment; Bruno Gili, partner at CPA Ferrere; and Álvaro Forteza, tenured professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Universidad de la República.  

The complete 2015 RED report may be found at   http://scioteca.caf.com/bitstream/handle/123456789/755/reporte_economia_desarrollo_caf_2015_estado_politicas_publicas.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y