The 2015 RED suggests four pillars to increase the capacity and effectiveness of the State

In past years, the debate on development has focused more on defining which are the best policies to achieve growth and inclusion, and less on the capacities of the agencies in charge of implementing those initiatives. 

To achieve a balance between those two aspects, the 2015 Economy and Development Report (RED), developed by CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, identifies four essential factors; the  quality of the bureaucracy, the purchasing system, citizen participation, and the  monitoring and evaluation processes for public policies. 

With respect to bureaucracy, it is crucial to pay good salaries to public officials and generate the right incentives to increase their productivity. In second place, it is necessary to combine control and transparency to make public purchases more efficient, followed by the promotion of citizen participation in order to improve the effectiveness of the rendering of accounts. Finally, managing knowledge and learning enables a better performance of public policies as permanent sources of experience for political leaders. 

The RED suggests that an able State needs: quality bureaucracy, an effective public purchasing system, interaction between citizens and service providers, and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. 

This and other topics will be addressed on Tuesday, February 23rd in the presentation of the 2015 RED "A more effective State. Capacities for the design, implementation, and learning of public policies", in Bogota, Colombia, in the ML-B Auditorium, Mario Laserna building of the Universidad de los Andes. For more information on this event and to register, click here.