International IDEA and Santa Cruz’s School of Public Governance provide training to improve the performance of investment projects

Santa Cruz’s School of Public Governance, Escuela Cruceña de Administración Pública (ECAP) and International IDEA, launched on 17 August 2020, a series of events attended by 50 public servants from Santa Cruz’s Autonomous Regional Government with the aim of improving the design, evaluation and closure of public investment projects in the region.

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The investment portfolio in the country’s various public institutions includes a large percentage of projects that have not been granted formal closure because of design flaws, project evaluation deficiencies or structural shortcomings at a national level related to the closure procedure, as the ruling body has not issued subject specific regulations.

In this regard, ECAP and International IDEA agreed to conduct a 20-hour training course addressing issues related to design; before and after event evaluation, and project closure.            

For the presentation of the course, project managers and administrators from various Secretariats (regional ministries) and decentralized entities under the Governorship were invited to attend. Prospective attendees showed a great deal of interest, and as such the demand was significantly greater than anticipated, which resulted in an increase in the number of participants and in adjustments to the methodology. All the same, there was only space for 70 per cent of said demand, and therefore more such events are now envisaged in the future.

At the close of the event, on Monday 31 August 2020, Ms Cindy Michel, the Autonomous Region’s development director, expressed her appreciation for the efforts made in the development of these training processes, in spite of the challenging situation which the Autonomous Region is experiencing, and thanked all participants, as well as the organizers and International IDEA for providing support.

In turn, Mr Alfonso Ferrufino, International IDEA’s Senior Adviser in Bolivia, noted that building up skills in aid of a satisfactory project design will directly impact the quality of public investment and as such will directly benefit its people. In this regard, he praised the interest of the public servants engaged in continuing to improve of governance, not only in the pre-investment phase, but also during evaluation and proper project closure, pointing out to the road ahead in order to reach optimal levels of efficiency and effectiveness of public policies devised by the Governorship of Santa Cruz. Moreover, the significance of ECAP’s role in building up the skills of Santa Cruz’s public officials was highlighted, and even more so the complexity of the current situation, which requires skilled persons to face up to the challenges that may arise in their respective government departments.