Effectiveness and Impact: The Experience of MAC Centers in Peru

In Latin America and the Caribbean, dealing with government agencies often involves long waits, multiple requirements, and inefficient service. This perception has become a barrier that discourages people even before they begin any process. 

These experiences, documented in reports by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) such as Wait No More: Citizens, Red Tape, and Digital Goverment, directly affect citizens' trust in public institutions. In fact, the report Trust: The Key to Social Cohesion and Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean identifies the lack of trust as one of the most urgent and least addressed problems in the region. 

This reflection connects us to the importance of strengthening the effectiveness of the state, understood as the capacity of governments to design and implement policies effectively, enforce laws impartially, and deliver efficient public services, as we define it at the IDB. In Peru, interpersonal and institutional trust is low. In fact, the country has one of the highest levels of mistrust in the region. This does not affect all public institutions in the same way, nor does it have a single cause, but citizens' experience with government procedures is a key variable. 

In this context, it is important to highlight that there are solutions to reverse this situation. Below you'll find evidence of one such solution, implemented with support from the IDB: the Centers for Better Citizen Service (MAC Centers), which seek to improve the efficiency, transparency, and quality of public services.

To address this challenge, the Peruvian government has been making a series of efforts to offer more effective, accessible, and transparent public services. This effort is in line with a regional trend toward the implementation of citizen-centered one-stop shops, or Citizen Service Centers (CSC).

The CSCs serve as the main point of contact for citizens to access multiple public services and information. Although they vary in scope and form, they are characterized by: 

1. Concentrating various services in a single physical space;
2. Providing transparent information on service standards, fees, processes, and processing times; and
3. Systematically collecting citizen feedback on service delivery performance. 

The objective is clear: to improve the information available to citizens, reduce the time, number of trips, and resources needed to complete a procedure, ensure transparent and equitable handling of processes, and improve the quality-of-service delivery.

With IDB support, the project “Improvement and Expansion of Support Services for the Provision of Services to Citizens and Businesses at the National Level” (PE-L1222) was implemented, beginning in 2019. This project supported the implementation of 11 CSCs, known as MAC Centers, thus expanding their reach at the regional level. Before the project began, eight centers were in operation, five of them located in Lima. 

The MAC Centers, which are administered and implemented by the Secretariat of Public Management (SGP) of the PCM, aim to replicate the one-stop shop model. In this sense, the MACs allow citizens to access state entities and services in one place and, if possible, complete their business on a single visit. This means that citizens have access to a unified range of services in one space, which previously would have required visits to different public entities.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the implemented centers, an impact evaluation was conducted. To this end, baseline and follow-up data were collected, and a difference-in-differences methodology was used to compare regions with MAC Centers to a control group (similar areas where these centers are not present). 

The findings are encouraging in terms of time and cost savings. On average, a person who carries out their procedures at a MAC Center saves 18 minutes in the total time spent doing so, representing a 22% reduction compared to the time it takes to do so at a specific public entity. In addition, citizens spend 4 soles less when carrying out their procedures at these centers, representing a saving of 50%. This is mainly explained by a reduction in travel time and costs, service time, and waiting time. 

Considering the availability of the MAC Centers implemented by the project in 2024, the observed impacts translate into aggregate savings of more than 53.4 million soles for their users. This result is significant when compared to the total cost of maintenance and operation of the centers in that same year, which was approximately 9.3 million soles. 

In addition to the savings in time and money, the evaluation results highlight that the user experience improves significantly. Individuals who visit a MAC Center are 12 percentage points more likely to be satisfied with key aspects of the service, such as order, cleanliness, the waiting environment, infrastructure, and the service process, compared to visiting a specific public entity. These results reinforce the idea that MAC Centers not only reduce transaction costs but also improve the quality of service provided to citizens.

Measuring results is a fundamental step not only in understanding the impact of this type of program on citizen services, but also in being able to replicate them in other contexts. 

To do so, it is necessary to put into perspective benefits that are not quantified but are equally relevant. One such benefit in the case of Peru is the public-private synergy derived from the strategic location of the MAC Centers. Almost all of them have been set up inside shopping malls, a decision that has brought benefits both for citizens (more convenient access, extended opening hours, among others) and for the establishments themselves (greater flow of people and, therefore, potential consumers). Another aspect to highlight is the improvement in inter-institutional coordination and collaboration, made possible by the concentration of services from different entities in a single space. In general, MAC Centers bring together services from more than 15 state entities, a number that may increase in larger cities. Adding the offerings of all MACs, 629 services from 61 public entities are provided in person. 

Together, these advances reflect a sustained effort of almost 15 years aimed at modernizing the state and bringing it closer to citizens in a more effective way. Looking ahead, the challenge will be to expand its reach to other regions and areas of the country, promote greater digitization of procedures to complement in-person service, and incorporate new entities and services that are not yet part of the model.