Decision making for social improvement

A workshop prepares local leaders to take the initiative

By Diana Alarcón

As Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast takes on more responsibility for managing its own affairs, the technical abilities of its local government officials and other leaders increasingly becomes a priority.

Last December, 22 representatives from government and non-governmental organizations participated in a workshop on strengthening social management at the municipal level in Bluefields, Nicaragua. The event was organized as part of the National Training Program being carried out by the Inter-American Institute for Social Development (INDES) to help train professionals in the use of modern guidelines and instruments for social management for the design and management of social policies and programs. The program is being funded by a grant from the government of Norway.

Participants included representatives from municipalities in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS), particularly officials with municipal health and education agencies, as well as officials from the Ministry of Family Affairs, the Regional Council, and two universities. Also attending were representatives from leading NGOs.

The Bluefields workshop was the third training event held at the municipal level under the INDES–Nicaragua program. However, organizing it involved challenges that were very different from similar workshops. According to all welfare indicators, the region has one of the highest poverty rates in the country. In addition, people in the region have strong feelings of isolation and suffer from discrimination due to ignorance in the rest of the country about the multiethnic, multicultural, and multilingual nature of the South Atlantic. The workshop presented the dual challenge of first overcoming the suspicions that initiatives originating from outside the region usually prompt, and then tailoring the workshop contents to the special features of the region to make the training relevant.

Using a participatory approach, workshop participants selected four local development projects. During six days, they applied the concepts and methodologies involved in the social project cycle: assessment of the current situation to devise alternative solutions, selection of options, review of instruments for project management, and also examination of techniques for monitoring and evaluation. Some of the social project management tools that sparked the most interest were the use of tools to define social problems and objectives, logical framework, preparation and use of social indicators, stakeholder analysis, methodologies to incorporate community participation into the project cycle, and negotiation techniques.

The workshop's objective was twofold: first, to help train social sector professionals in the use of modern tools for social management; and second, to provide officials in charge of social policy and program design and implementation with a conceptual framework to guide them in the decision making process. In other words, the aim is not just to train technocrats, but to educate professionals who are committed to the principles of efficiency, equity, and sustainability in social policies and programs so that they can use the methodologies and instruments for social management effectively.

Judging by the written evaluations and comments made by workshop participants, the objective was broadly achieved. For one, participants were able to apply the management tools to their own needs. Moreover, the workshop gave participants a chance to exchange views with officials from other institutions about concrete proposals and projects. It increased their awareness of the need to replicate this type of training within their own institutions, and it motivated them to organize a network to continue discussions on social policy issues.

One of the most frequent comments was that these types of events should include people from the most remote regions of the country, where officials seldom have opportunities for training to improve social project management. Such workshops would help strengthen a dialogue with the rest of the country based on the regional priorities established and improve the effectiveness of the decentralization process for social service management.

The Bluefields workshop was only the beginning. As part of the INDES–Nicaragua program, a network of universities is being established to replicate social management training and organize such events after the two-year INDES project ends. An important part of this process of training local capacity and transferring technology is undoubtedly transmitting the need to develop broad-based strategies for local-level training, especially in the most remote areas with the highest rates of poverty and social exclusion.

Date posted: May 2001

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