Secretariat for Political Affairs (SPA)/
Department for Effective
Public Management (DEPM)
Inter-American Prize for Innovation in Effective Public Management 2013
Basis forApplication
Secretariat for Political Affairs (SPA) /
Department for Effective Public Management (DEPM)
SECRETARIAT FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS
The Western Hemisphere is today, almost without any exceptions, a community of democracies. Considering the tormented political history of a great part of our region, this is an extraordinary achievement. The preservation, expansion and deepening of democratic accomplishments achieved by the previous generation, constitute a core pillar of the work of the Organization of the American States (OAS), particularly after the approval of the Inter-American Democratic Charter on September 11, 2001 in Lima, Peru. The Charter is much more than a declaration of good intentions. It is a compilation of mandates supremely adopted by 34 countries to advance a broad democratic agenda leveraged with resources provided by the multilateral community.
True to those mandates, the Secretariat for Political Affairs of the OAS seeks to be an instrument that helps consolidate the Americas’ achievements in adopting basic characteristics of democracy, mainly, the celebration of free and fair elections and the civilian control of government institutions. For this purpose, it is important to pay attention to political vulnerabilities deeply entrenched in the region – such as corruption or the political exclusion of certain societal groups – as well as to new and more sophisticated threats to democracy – as for instance, the noticeable disenchantment with politics, the erosion of checks and balances, the emergence of political contexts incompatible with fair electoral competition, and the erosion of legitimacy derived by poor government performance. The pending tasks in the road towards deepening democracy in the Americas are as great as the achievements accumulated to date.
Therefore, the Secretariat for Political Affairs aspires to be an instrument that assists member States of the OAS in the arduous and never-ending task of improving the quality of democratic governance. As the hemispheric political organization par excellence, gifted with an unparalleled multilateral experience in the world, the OAS occupies a privileged place to influence debates and support public policy formulation-processes in areas essential to democratic performance. These include the improvement of the quality of electoral competition, adoption of political reforms, strengthening of representative institutions, promotion of electronic government, universalization of the right to civil identity, promotion of conflict resolution mechanisms, and the dissemination of good practices in public management. In some of these areas, the Secretariat already is an unavoidable reference point in the Americas, and aspires to continue being so.
The future success of the Secretariat for Political Affairs of the OAS undertaking this agenda will depend primarily, on how truthful our work is to the mandates of the Inter-American Democratic Charter as an expression of the irreversible will of the peoples of the Hemisphere to live in democracy. It will also depend on our capacity to work in harmony with the member States to respond to their cooperation needs and of our willingness to join efforts with many other governments, public and private institutions committed to the promotion of democracy.
Constructing a Secretariat increasingly clearer on its democratic vocation, but also more agile, more proactive, more connected to the world, and more oriented to the service of the member States of the OAS, is the best homage that our team can do to the invaluable democratic legacy that has been entrusted to the current generation of the peoples of the Americas.
Dr. Kevin Casas-Zamora
Secretary forPolitical Affairs
Presentation
The "Inter-American Prize for Innovation in Effective Public Management" is an activity of the Department for Effective Public Management that seeks to enhance public management innovations, systematize, encourage and promote them as useful experiences and possible to replicate elsewhere.
It is known that in recent decades, democracy has been advancing striding in America, having spread elections in almost all the countries of the region, a transfer of political institutions to civilian control and deep political transformations have generated an atmosphere of collective hope in the shared future of the American people. Also, state reforms initiated in the 90s have driven economic and social changes that have joined transformation processes of public administrations seeking to achieve a better delivery of public services while maintaining economic balance of their economies.
Additionally, it is important to consider that at present, public issues have become more complex with the events of globalization, the dynamism of societies, new public problems related with intangible social values such as recognition of minority rights, new formal international actors, informal and even illegal (drug cartels, international terrorism, etc.) that have also forced various governmentsto continue innovating their public policies.
However, the countries of the Americas are still counting on institutional problems to implement public policies directly affecting the legitimacy of democracy and their governments, therefore it is necessary to make a more innovative effort to achieve the satisfaction of growing citizens’demands, not only from the fiscal or managerial aspect, but -above all- as a consultation political challenge, framed in purposes and principles of democratic governance present in the Charter of the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Democratic Charter, among other instruments of International Law.
In this sense and with the understanding that Effective Public Management is a key element to strengthen the legitimacy of democracy, knowledge of innovations in governance is very important, because it allowed public managers to learn from other experiences in order to replicate and adapt positive aspects of public policies that have been successful, and also, avoid mistakes and shortcomings that may have been raise elsewhere.
In this context, the work of the Department for Effective Public Management of the OAS takes on special importance because through the development of an activity as the proposed one,it allows to articulate and manage these innovations optimizing knowledge and attracting the interest of the various public managers, academic community and anyone interested on the subject, which is in the interest of the public administrations of our Hemisphere.
For this reason and through this basis we invite all public administrations of the countries of our Americas to participate in this call with the understanding that their presence will strengthen the bonds of cooperation among our fellow nations and democratic governance in the region as a whole.
Sincerely,
María Fernanda Trigo
Director of the Department for Effective Public Management of the OAS
The "Inter-American Prize for Innovation in Effective Public Management" is an activity of the Department for Effective Public Management that seeks, through the selection of a Special Jury, to identify innovations in public management that the various administrations of the Americas make in order to reward, recognize, systematize, encourage and promote them as useful experiences possible to replicate elsewhere.
The main objective of the "Inter-American Prize for Innovation in Effective Public Management" is to strengthen democratic governance in the region through the improvementof public administrations in the Americas’ countries, through the dissemination and exchange of innovative experiences in effective public management.
It also has specific objectives:
- To contribute to the identification, collection and dissemination of innovative practices in public management of the countries that integrate the Inter-American system.
- To draw attention to innovation as a cross cutting issue of public management that goes beyond the use of technology.
- To facilitate the exchange of information on innovations in public managementamong the countries of the Americas.
- To keep a "data" of innovative practices in effective public management that can be consulted by public officials, experts and citizens in general.
- To recognize effective public management innovations developed by the countries of the region that can promote gradual regional experimentalism, and identify local/national solutions to global problems.
- To generate among the public agrowing demand for the improvement on public management in their public administrations.
- To stimulate innovation in public management among the countries of the Americas.
An innovative experience in effective public management is a public policy (broadly defined as a program, activity, process, etc.) developed by a public administration that for its novelty or creativity, either in its design or execution, has produced outstanding results in its effectiveness and efficiency for the benefit of citizens.
For the purposes of this competition, the experience must have a minimum of two years of implementation.
To apply to the "Inter-American Prize for Innovation in Effective Public Management" it is necessary to have the following requirements:
- Being a institution(s) or entity(ies) in any of the different administrative levels (national, state, local, etc.) and belong to one of the OAS Member States;
- Theinnovativeexperience(s) to be presented, has to have a minimum of two (2) years of implementation;
- To complete the nomination application formenclosed in Annex I, following the guidelines described in Paragraph 8 of the basis for application, and
- To submit the application documents (two printed copies) through the countries diplomatic missions to the OAS so that through them are made known to the Department for Effective Public Management before July 31stof this year. Additionally, it is required to submit an electronic copy of the application documents to the following e-mail address:
The Inter-American Prize for Innovation in Effective Public Managementhas 5 categories related to different areas of public management:
- Innovation forPlanning and Evaluation of public policies
- Innovation forManagement in Human Resources
- Innovation for Quality in Public Services
- Innovation forOpen Government and Access to Public Information
- Innovation forInstitutional Coordination (inter-institutional, intra-institutional, trans-institutional, with the Civil Society, and Private Sector, amongst other.)
In the absence of at least one application, the jury may declare as void the category. It is also possible that the jury declaresas void the category if still having category nominations, they do not meet or they do not satisfy the selection criteria.
Only one experience will be awarded for each category and the decision is final in nature.
There are three (3) necessary steps to apply for theInter-American Prize for Innovation in Effective Public Management.
- The first step is to identifythe innovative experience to be presented.
- The second step is to preparethenomination application form that isattached to the textand also available in its electronic version on the Department for Effective Public Managementweb page.
I fan entity would like to apply for more than one category; it would need to use different nomination application form for each of them.
In addition, an entity may present a maximum of three (3) innovative experiences in the same category, if it deems necessary.
The request for application should be clear and concise and may not extend more than 20 pages including the Executive Summary.
Attached to the application form, Annexes may be included that the institution considers relevant to the innovative experience(s) submitted. They can be documents, reports or other documents or instruments that support the above.
If necessary,the participant may include a glossary of terms that facilitates the understanding of the innovative experience presented.
All the information contained in the application form is considered true. If at any stage of the process it is proved thatthis requirement is not fulfilled; the application will be automatically disqualified. Thedecisioncan not beappealed.
- The third step is to send theapplication material (two printed copies) through thethrough the countries diplomatic missions to the OAS so that through them are made known to the Department for Effective Public Management before July 31stof this year.
Additionally, it is required to submit an electronic copy of the application documents to the following e-mail address:
Evaluation will be based on objective and technical criteria, impartially and independently verifiable.
At first, the Department will make a preliminary selection to verify compliance with theapplicationrequirementsand will submit the selected experiences to aSpecial Jury. If there is any application that does not meet the application requirements, the Department for Effective Public Management will contact the applicant entity to request its correction in the next 5 days.
In a second stage, the Special Jury, composed of academic and political personalities recognized for its expertise in public management, and based on pre-selected criteria, shall determine and substantiate what practices are worthy of receiving recognition from the OAS.
Special Jury decisions will be taken by simple majority and its deliberations are confidential and final.
Only one experience will be awarded for each category and the decision is final in nature.
The criteria to be evaluated by the Special Jury are:
a. Originality
Creation oforiginal processes within the public administration based onknowledge and experience. This approach seeks to stimulate the creativity of public managers in solving everyday problems related to the work state.
b. Citizen Impact
Seeks to demonstrate that innovation brings a greater benefit to citizens. For example, shorter waiting times, clear information, simplified processes, gender equity, etc.
c. Replicability
It refers to the ability to replicate the innovative practice in other countries of the Americas. To that end, the possibility of adapting administrative processes to other institutional contexts, the availability of funding and the political and social constraints should be valued.
d. Effectiveness
It refers to the ability to measure/achieve expected results through innovative experience, according to the objectives that have been proposed in a particular public policy (broadly defined as a program, activity, process, etc.).
e. Efficiency
It refers to the ability of government to manage their processes so that they can optimize their resources (financial, human, logistic, etc.) and in turn generate more and better results.
f. Complexity of the problem it solves
It refers to the complexity of the problem and the solution that can be presented from the public administration. In that sense,experiences that have to do with the central management of public administration,are more valued since they involve larger population, and the problem management is applied to multiple levels of government and associations, etc.
g. Sustainability if the experience
It implies the level of"rooting" of the experience that makes it able to stay in time, to resist political changes of government, institutional and organizational changes, lack of funding, lack of commitment of the authorities and government officials, etc.
The Evaluation Panel is chaired by the Secretary for Political Affairs of the OAS and it is integrated bydistinguished personalities, academics and officials of institutions and internationally renowned universities.
At any time the Department for Effective Public Management will act as the secretariat.
The awards are:
- Inter-American Prize for Innovation in Effective Public Management ceremony to be held inWashington,D.C.
- Publication of effective public management innovations in a SPA special newsletter.
- Dissemination at the II International Seminar on Innovative Experiences in Effective Public Management.
- Promotion of the experience in the TED OAS project
- Case Study preparation related to the innovative experience in public management.
The Department for Effective Public Management OAS reserves the right to disseminate the results of the selection process. Also, the application must consent authorization to broadcast and use, in whole or in part, the contents of it and of the innovative experience described.
- Beginning of the call May, 2013
- Final date for submission of applications July 31st, 2013
- Results publication September 16, 2013
- Award Ceremony October 5, 2013
More Information
For more information please visit our webpage:
Contact us at:
Call us at:
OAS Number:(001) 202 370-5000 / 5499
DEPM Number:(001) 202 370-5499 or (001) 202 370-9004
Fax:(001) 202 458-6250
or request a personalized service in the various offices of the OAS in each country or at our headquarters located at 1889 F Street, NWWashington,D.C., 20006.
Document production:
Secretaryfor Political Affairs
Kevin Casas-Zamora
Directorof the Department for Effective Public Management
María Fernanda Trigo
Team
Silverio Zebral Filho
Franz Chevarría
Hugo Inga
Alexandre Bohl
ANNEX I
Nomination Application Form[1]
“Inter-American Prize for Innovation in Effective Public Management”
I. General Information
MemberStateApplicant:
Public Institution Applicant:
Name of the Innovative Experience:
Category to which it is applying:
Please answer the following questions:
- Why is it that your institution understands the experience presented as innovative?
- What other innovative experiences, similar to the one presented, your institution knows about?
- What is the difference between the innovative experience presented by your entity and the similar ones that your entity knows about?
II. Brief presentation/Summaryof the innovative experience:
This paragraph requires a summary of the Innovative Experience (Please specify the achievements). No more than 8 lines.
III. Institutional Information
Applicant Entity name:
Address:
Telephone: Fax:
Webpage: E-mail:
Administrative level of the entity
National ( )
State - regional ( )
Local ( )
Administrative nature
State Power( )Specialized Agency ( )
Ministry, Secretariat( )Public Company ( )
Autonomous body( ) Other(explain) ( )
IV. Innovative Experience Information