Three key elements for good public management

What strategies should be maintained at an institutional level? What practices should be refined? In what areas can we find spaces to innovate? 

Based on these questions, a workshop was organized in Panama called "Los Tres Qué para la Modernización del Gobierno y de la Gestión Pública para la Alta Gerencia Social" (The Three Keys for the Modernization of Government and Public Management for Social High Management), with the objective of strengthening the cooperation mechanisms between the different entities of the Panamanian public administration and carry out a diagnosis of the institutional capacities that enable an improvement of the working dynamics of different government teams. 

The training was implemented in the framework of a technical cooperation agreement between CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, and the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES, for its acronym in Spanish) of the Republic of Panama, an alliance which seeks to promote the development of new technical capacities at different governmental levels.  

During two days, 49 public officials assigned to the MIDES shares experiences, approaches, and perspectives regarding the public administration system in Panama, and received practical tools to build a management model where personal and professional ambitions may integrate to the institutional scheme of goals and objectives. The workshop was in charge of Nohemí Pulido, CAF consultant  for subjects related to institutional development and specialist in management for public training. Before the participants, she stated the need to integrate values and objectives that are specific to the process of building governmental agendas. 

Among the conclusions of the training workshop stand out the need to generate a chronogram that promotes a multi-sectorial synergy between the different technical components of the Social Cabinet, designing joint planning and intra-regional coordination strategies, as well as identifying spaces for innovation in public management practices. This meeting space was also helpful for participants to share their vision of the role the public officials have in the development and strengthening of the State. 

Michelle Muschette, Vice-Minister of Social Development of Panama, stated, "This is an opportunity to reflect about our place in this world, in our homes, and our jobs. The commitment we have, beyond our differences, is what makes us be much more than a country, and I hope that by understanding this together, we can advance in this process of humanizing public management".

For Susana Pinilla, CAF's Director Representative in Panama, the commitment of MIDES regarding institutional strengthening is a decisive factor for compliance with the Plan Estratégico Nacional con Visión de Estado (National Strategic Plan with a State Vision) "Panama 2030" and the Sustainable Development Objectives. Similarly, Alcibíades Vásquez, Minister of Social Development of Panama, expressed his satisfaction with the work carried out jointly with the multilateral organization, and recognized the need to evaluate the use of new training tools that contribute to a greater and better development of state capacities. 

This working dynamic is framed within the Training Program for High Management in Latin America, and is part of the initiatives that CAF promotes for public training throughout the region.