Archives - Page 3

  • Post-COVID-19 Public Management: Public-Private Partnerships as a tool for improving services and infrastructure
    No. 79 (2020)

    "The transformation of the public and public-private partnerships".

    The crisis generated by the pandemic meant a breaking point in global structures, a challenge to the traditional schemes from where all activities are developed; work, study, health, tourism, mobility, nine months after experiencing changes, some radical, most of the dynamics have been retaken, transformed, but understanding how the stillness of confinement is not an option for systems (economic and social) that have also found in digital spaces an opportunity for adaptation.

    That is why the analyses begin to denote how, in the face of this projected changing future, there is a real opportunity to transform all spaces, including the management of the public; "The new normality post COVID-19 should aim for a balance between the environmental dimension, the human dimension and the economic dimension, reconciling current needs with the needs of future generations" (Lopez, 2020)1 , especially, a reflection from this area is necessary, because although in most cases, the response to the health crisis and the following economic and social tensions has been as good as possible, in reality, it does not seem that there is a strategic logic in the response that allows taking advantage of the new dynamics, although in certain issues, as a result of the push and urgency, convergences and advances have occurred (for example with the implementation of teleworking or virtual lessons), these are complex processes and cannot be transformed from one moment to another.

    In the same way, the uncertainty of the future and the urgent solutions required by citizens have brought back into the conversation the traditional conception of the State as a provider -or protector- of basic services; For François Heisbourg (2020)2 , the pandemic has reinforced the role of "protector" of external threats, in this vision the State tends to assume internal commitments, and therefore it is demanded prompt solutions that it may not be able to assume.

    The point is that many times state responses may be late, so it is essential to take advantage of the conjunctures to update this reading of public management and how it can be constantly improved, in this case, a tool increasingly implemented as a catalyst for improvement, is the application of public-private partnership (PPP) models to provide solutions to the new and transformed needs of citizens.

    As the World Bank emphasizes, "healthy cooperation with the private sector will be more important than ever as countries emerge from this crisis with even more fiscal constraints. "3 Public-private collaboration was already important, but in the post-pandemic landscape it is a key mechanism for creating solutions and increasing levels of public services.

    However, this type of collaboration, implemented in different ways and with results ranging from successful to unsuccessful, finds a factor of change in the immediacy with which current responses must be generated, so if PPPs offer a faster, more concentrated and efficient way to manage the public sector, their qualities and weaknesses must be studied and evaluated, with a vision put into practice, allowing to learn from these dynamics and their application mechanisms.

    Because in many cases, this type of association is a way of coping with budgetary, human resources or any other type of constraints faced by public administrations, but it also requires a high level of commitment from the actors involved and cannot be taken lightly, but rather as a complex formula, which requires a suitable technical and interdisciplinary combination. This leads to the analysis of regulatory frameworks, as some countries have shown to have enabled the framework of reference for the development of such schemes, but even so it is not enough for the number of actors and interests involved and the specificity of each intervention, added to the fact that the current crisis may result in downward trends in the profitability of projects, probably generating negative impacts on infrastructure development or deployment of services, so it is relevant to maintain an almost permanent debate on this issue.

    The general interest of this approach is to propose analyses and document the way in which these collaboration schemes can be developed in a more continuous manner in the midst of a changing global dynamic, which is committed to innovation and where the role of the State has also been transformed, for the sake of an application that favors the generation of public value.

    This edition of the Central American Journal of Public Administration offers a first approach to some of the theoretical and practical elements of public-private partnerships in the region and the sectors where they can have the greatest impact, such as infrastructure or transportation, proposing this issue as a meeting point between the theoretical, the normative and the practical.

     

  • SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: Building new paths for public administrations
    No. 78 (2020)

    When the Editorial Committee determined the content of volume 78 of the Central American Journal of Public Administration, no one imagined at that time the global pandemic that was going to be generated from the city of Wuhan in China.

    Today we know that COVID-19 has reached the whole of humanity and if many described this emergency as a health crisis, today there is no doubt that it is a social crisis in the fullness of the term. It encompasses the economy, the environment and the power structures in each country. This, and no other, is the social and political environment we are living in Latin America and the Caribbean and which we cannot ignore.

    It is therefore valid to ask ourselves for the post-COVID-19 period: What kind of society will emerge? How will it transform governments and public administrations? Will there be convergence in the development policies of the countries or will divergences be accentuated? These are profound questions with which scholars of society and government management have to grapple.

    Because if the 2030 Agenda, which contains the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is a roadmap for the global fight against poverty, climate change and inequality, today we have to admit that this Agenda must be reviewed in the light of new circumstances. The world is changing rapidly and we are not yet able to foresee what the future holds.

    In this regard, I would like to offer three reflections that could shed some light on the ongoing debate; the first is that the seventeen SDGs must necessarily be reformulated or, in any case, their implementation must be prioritized. In this line, and in line with the proposal of specialist authors in development and what has been expressed by international agencies themselves, the collaborative action of the State and society should focus on the basics: water, health and food.

    As the post-COVID-19 crisis is shaking the foundations of coexistence and social harmony, we have to attend to what comes first. Which is justified if we consider that with these three areas of action we cover shortages that do not wait and that are vectors of infectious and infectious diseases, in addition to other deadly diseases.

    It is clear that the least protected, without defenses, poorly fed, without water and sanitation, or those who lack universal health coverage, both physical and mental, or environmental protection cannot wait until 2030, so the actions will have to be, in addition to being urgent, extremely precise.

    As proof of this, let us look at the inevitable impoverishment of the middle classes and the descent of the poor into extreme poverty. The unemployment rate has already begun to rise, as a consequence of the decline in productive activities, which will lead to an increase in Latin America, for example, from 185 million to 220 million poor people by the end of this year.

    Hunger is likely to increase again in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In addition to the endemic problems of war, civil strife, climate change and water shortages, we must add the pandemic that is causing the disruption of food systems and the reduction of international aid programs, in many cases. In addition to the disruption of production, transport and distribution chains as a result of the need to minimize contagion and, therefore, the application of movement restrictions and mandatory isolation.

    The second reflection has to do with assessing social learning in the fight against poverty. After decades of public policies with full or scarce participation of the States, we should have learned some lessons. And, to be frank and direct, the vast majority of these policies and the substantial resources that have been used have simply not yielded the expected results. Obviously, the time has come for profound revisions to the assumptions and instruments of traditional policies.

    The issue of social learning for development is linked to that of knowledge management, which has been the cornerstone of ICAP's work in recent years and which can be detected in the thinking and actions of its director and collaborators. Thus, the crisis can, and should, give rise to the strengthening of research and training of those responsible for overcoming the shortcomings of the countries of our region.

    The valorization of the knowledge accumulated in the formulation and execution of public policies and the construction of scenarios in the new "DC" world (after COVID-19) is evident in the publication of the institutional dossier with audio media, which our institution has made under the title "Public Policies in the post-COVID 19 world" and which can be consulted and downloaded at this link.

    Finally, and as the well-remembered development economist Albert O. Hirschman (1915-2012) argued in his prolific production, the work of intellectuals committed to development must always be that of a "possibilist "i . That is to say, someone who, without absolute certainties, sets out to think about what does not yet exist because he has the right to freedom. The freedom to explore destinies that do not predicted by the iron laws of the social sciences or by the certainties of the gurus of "balanced development".

    I underline Hirschman's thought precisely because the reader has before him in this publication, a collection of writings of "possibilist" explorers who share with us their thoughts and experiences in the work of sustainable development. These lines spring from the minds and spirits of researchers and social entrepreneurs who generously contribute their ideas and experiences.

     

  • Changing the way governments operate
    No. 77 (2019)

    What does the future look like, what will the media be like in the next 50 years, what will be the responsibilities of public administration in 2060, the future cannot be predicted, However, if data were collected, scenarios were generated and then presented to a group of experts, at least some notions could be validated, which would allow public administrations to prepare for better management of these uncertain futures. These prospective tools are part of a series of processes that if implemented today could have a positive impact on the future.

    Cycles of change and disruption have led us to a reality that is marked by technological advancement; the media, the workforce, social relations, commerce, entertainment, tax collection, health and public transportation systems all have technological components, life is not understood without technology.

    This has led to the emergence of new needs, especially because the social fabric is increasingly complex, fragmented and plural. Even so, public administration has been slow to solve new and old emergencies, and this lack of response has led to a crisis of expectations, where societies are clear that they find immediate solutions to their new needs and demand change -or rupture-.

    Therefore, public administrations must be able to manage the expectations and uncertainty of individuals in order to generate capacities for intersectoral, interinstitutional and interacting understanding and therefore build collaborative solutions, proposing a constructive solution to complex challenges and dynamic problems.

    The gaps, not only economic, but also age and technological, blur and accentuate the particular urgencies that public administration must address and the State alone cannot, and should not, attempt to fill all these needs, but ensure that systems minimize the impact of change in an effective and efficient manner.

    The urgency is collaboration, in a landscape in continuous transformation, where the public interests of private companies and individuals must be coordinated and generate significant impacts in the management of expectations; public-private partnerships are one of the necessary characteristics to foresee futures and generate responses.

    It is in this scenario that the collection, processing, management and transformation of data into inputs with real value through Data Science, is a toolbox to transform social and economic environments, this because the management, transfer and applicability of knowledge should function as an early warning, proposing measures that instead of generating chaos, propose the tranquility of a responsible response in a space of uncertainty.

    Megadata or Big Data; structured or unstructured data that produce trends about the users of a website must function as a compass, which signals some steps or trends that can be of help to generate solutions.

    All this requires the public administration to set its sights on this trend and is that the generation of data globally is at an unprecedented point, according to the World Bank (2016), per day more than 803 million twits are shared, 186 million photos on Instagram, 152 million Skype calls and 36 million purchases are made by Amazon and these data, do not even include China, one of the countries with the largest flow of information and electronic market, largest in the world.

    Data science should be understood as a tool capable of producing relevant, quality and timely evidence to support and guide decision making in governmental, business or institutional processes. Its use has been focused on the diagnosis of problems, situational analysis and scenario generation; consequently, the application of this data would improve the work of governments and public administrations, through the generation of effective solutions to problems of health, transportation, education, housing, among others, as well as the creation of scenarios that predict future situations or trends in order to manage uncertainties in a more effective way.

    The application of Data Science in government management as a State policy is a necessity in the current context, based on the construction of scenarios, the use of Big Data, the consolidation of open government processes and the application of the large number of technological tools for the public function, in addition to making decisions based on data that facilitate and encourage intelligent and evidence-based decision making.

    In a reality that is undergoing more and more accelerated changes, the advance of technology represents every day greater challenges for public administrations, for this reason it is necessary to reflect on its importance and propose it as a tool for progress. This situation requires the public administration to generate a new concept of its role and accept that it must also function as a developer, precursor and even regulator of this type of technology and be willing to take on the challenge, especially because this is not a simple process and the limits -if there are any- for governmental action are blurred.

  • Learning for good governance: knowledge management in failed public policies
    No. 76 (2019)

    Central American Institute of Public Administration, with headquarters in San José, Costa Rica and an Innovation and Training Center in Ciudad del Saber, Panama. It publishes issues on Public Administration and Central American Integration with the objective of promoting a better understanding of governmental affairs, public administration and the integration of the Central American Isthmus; the content is aimed at all currents of administrative, public and regional integration thought that advocate the development of knowledge in and about Central America.


    The Central American Journal of Public Administration requires authors to grant the ownership of their copyrights, so that their article and materials may be reproduced, published, edited, published, posted, communicated and transmitted publicly in any form or medium, as well as its distribution in the number of copies required and its public communication, in each of its modalities, including its availability to the public through electronic, optical or any other technology, exclusively for scientific, cultural, dissemination and non-profit purposes.

  • High public management of the government
    No. 75 (2018)

    La transformación, la actualización y la modernización son aspectos fundamentales para asegurar la innovación en el fortalecimiento de las capacidades institucionales de las instituciones públicas; contribuyendo a la construcción de un Estado ágil y dinámico, que brinde la capacidad de promover bienes y servicios públicos de calidad hacia las poblaciones. En tal sentido, a Revista Centroamericana de Administración Pública constituye un espacio especializado de reflexión, pensamiento y debate sobre una compleja diversidad de temas que inciden en la gobernabilidad y gobernanza de la región centroamericana.

    Las demandas democráticas, requieren de una ingeniería de Estado y de un ejercicio de gobierno, que sean capaces de articular el complejo andamiaje institucional con la atención de prioridades y acciones, que vayan más allá de lo coyuntural y de la inmediatez. Estamos frente al desafío de integrar esquemas de gestión presidencial prospectiva y con una alta capacidad de construcción narrativa.

    La edición de la Revista Centroamericana La Alta Gestión Pública de los Centros de Gobierno abre un abanico mayor de conceptos, enfoques y experiencias para la innovación de la gestión estratégica y prospectiva de los Centros de Gobierno; contribuyendo a un diálogo de alto nivel orientado al mejoramiento de la gobernabilidad y la gobernanza de los Estados miembros del Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana, como de América Latina en general.

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