Policies and perspectives after the Second Global Forum on Governance in the 21st. Century

Abstract

The II Global Forum established certain paradigms for Governance of the Democratic State in the 21st Century. It was increasingly clear that that there is an important role for the State that goes beyond the mere regulation of the markets, and its traditional interventions in the social sectors.

Within this new perspective, the State must also exercise, in addition to its most important role as a facilitator of economic and social development, a role as a promoter for public dialogue: provoking, stimulating, coordinating, and articulating among diverse interests. This latter role is particularly difficult when the institutional framework is fragile, institutions are weak, and staff turnover is high.

The challenge is how to strengthen the capacity of national, regional and local governments to be responsive and fully in tune with the diverse needs of society and the aspirations of its citizens. One obvious first step is to create an environment that nurtures and grows a new generation of leaders, which in turn will attract good people to modernized public service. A second step is to invest heavily in training. Today, more than ever before in human history, the opportunities offered by technology make it possible to do so relatively cheaply.

Knowledge management is one way of try to cope with fast track mobility. It means investing not only in good people, but also in ways of building skills and supporting creativity at the organizational level. Working in networks and project groups and changing the physical space can be part of the solution, as it is already tried in several countries. The use of IT to store and share knowledge is a way of creating stability and continuity at the organizational level - and a way to avoid reinventing the wheel.

This paper outlines the outcome of the II Global Forum: the Democratic State and Governance in the 21st. Century that was held in Brasilia between May 29-31, 2000. It also describes how the Government of Brazil is embarking on a major policy initiative of knowledge management to strengthen institutional capacity, following the Forum.

A separate paper outlines the full program of State reform being undertaken by the Brazilian Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management (MOG). The Secretary of Management within MOG (SEGES) is directly implementing the program.