Latin America: new platform to promote leadership

With the objective of promoting the exchange of knowledge among the more than 40,000 graduates of the Leadership for Change and Governance, Policy Management, and Public Management programs, CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, created the Red Latinoamericana de Gobernabilidad (Latin American Governance Network), which intends to become a dynamic space to discuss subjects of common interest in the areas of governance, public management, and leadership. 

This virtual space has three interaction tools designed especially for students and former students of CAF's Governance and Leadership programs, and the coordinators of the academic institutions that execute said programs.  

The first tool consists of a web site (gobernabilidadcaf.com), designed for those who are interested in subjects related to public management, governance, and leadership in Latin America; the second is a closed interaction space for former students and participants in CAF's training programs, and the third is a collaborative working tool for coordinators, through the Yammer platform.  

For the development of the network, Microsoft and CIPPEC collaborated with CAF. The latter is an important Argentinean think tank, which achieved sixth place at the regional level in the 2015 edition of the index that is annually developed by the University of Pennsylvania (Global Go To Think Tanks Index).

These are some of the elements that seek to strengthen professional capacities in public management:

1. Governance, Policy Management, and Public Management Program: facing the political weight acquired by sub-national political entities, it is necessary to generate a training mechanism aimed at strengthening the local institutional capacities, Through the Governance, Policy Management, and Public Management Program, academically designed by the George Washington University, CAF provides training for public officials and government teams of the countries of Latin America. Since 2002 and until 2014, 13,770 individuals graduated from this course which is currently being taught by the Universidad Católica de Córdoba (Argentina), Universidad San Andrés (Argentina), Universidad Privada del Valle (Bolivia), Universidad Colegio Mayor Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Colombia), Universidad ICESI (Colombia), Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (Ecuador), Universidad de Cuenca (Ecuador), Universidad de Panamá (Panama), Universidad Columbia (Paraguay), Pontifica Universidad Católica del Perú (Peru), Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (Venezuela), and Universidad Simón Bolívar (Venezuela). Soon, the Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil) will join these institutions to provide the courses. 
2. Leadership for Change Program: this program seeks to promote a leadership that understands the importance of the participation of organizations and actors of the civil society, and that strengthens the relations between the State and society through specific actions. This course promotes the development of skills, values, and knowledge for the development of citizenship from a theoretical and practical approach. Since 2001 and until 2014, 27,000 individuals have been trained. In 2015, the organizations that teach the courses were: Fundación IDEA (Bolivia), Universidad Colegio Mayor Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Colombia), Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (Ecuador), Universidad de Cuenca (Ecuador), Universidad Católica Santa Maria La Antigua (Panama), Universidad San Martin de Porres (Peru), and Fundación Centro Gumilla (Venezuela).
3. Training Programs for High-Level Public Officials in Latin America; aimed at the top public managers in Latin America, this program offers new mechanisms that enable the construction of a managing sector with the required competencies to address the needs of citizens. In these programs, CAF works jointly with prestigious institutions such as the Ecole Nationale d´Administration (ENA, France), McCourt School of Public Policy, at Georgetown University (United States), Carolina Foundation (Spain), and has developed diverse training lines and strengthening of capacities at high governmental levels as well as at the top managerial levels of public service in Latin America.
4. Editorial Series "Estado, gestión pública y desarrollo en América Latina" (State, public management, and development in Latin America): consists of a selection of texts aimed at strengthening the understanding and implications that the functioning of the State and institutions in Latin America have for development. The selected texts were translated to Spanish and are organized with a logic that facilitates information on the basis of the international theoretical debate focused on these areas, as well as analyze the significant experiences of our societies and other latitudes, seeking to disseminate this knowledge in our region. CAF, as an institution dedicated to the promotion of development, places a new editorial collection at the disposal of those who actively participate in public management, as well as academics, students, and all interested parties, with the objective of providing this literature and support them in the understanding, design, and execution of public policies associated to institutional quality and development in our countries. 

Toward the end of April, new meetings will be organized for the graduates of the different programs in each country. The first activities will be in Lima and Bogota, where former students will participate in a conversation or seminar to continue updating their knowledge regarding governance and leadership.