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News Last Updated: Dec 11, 2018 - 10:11:23 AM


IDB’s Commitment to The Bahamas; Better Governments for Better Lives
By Inter-American Development Bank
Dec 11, 2018 - 10:08:57 AM

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The Caribbean and Latin America and have been profoundly transformed over the last 15 years. Economic and social progress has been significant: per capita incomes have risen, the middle class has grown, education levels have improved, and the telecommunications revolution has meant that people are more connected, better informed, and can also demand more and better services.

However, the public sector seems to have been slower to adapt to the evolving times: despite demand in the region for more efficient, more effective, and more open governments, trust in public institutions in some countries is still substantially behind.

High-quality human resources are the centerpiece of state capacity. The ways in which the civil service is managed—human resource planning policies, recruitment and selection, professional development, and incentives for professionalization, among other factors—are critical for attracting, retaining, and motivating the right people, aligning them with the right roles in society.

Despite its importance, however, this issue has yet to become a priority of the public sector reform agenda. This is due to both the technical and the political complexity implied by modifying the status quo in civil service management – which is built by several governments over decades – and to the perception that the benefits will be seen only over the long term, whereas the costs will be felt immediately. This applies to many countries in our region, including The Bahamas.

 

Moving forward with difficult public sector reforms requires having first an external detailed diagnostic and a road map for implementation: IDB’s recent civil service diagnostic in The Bahamas goes in that direction. While the score was 19 out of 100, there are important findings and ideas to enhance performance.

We are pleased to note that The Bahamas scored above the regional average both on the use of merit in the civil service – safeguards against politicization – and in the integrative capacity index, which measures labor relations between the government and its public servants. This needs to be acknowledged and sustained over time.

IDB’s series “Building State Capacity: The State of the Civil Service in the Caribbean” represents an important opportunity to discuss this issue openly and identify a concrete path for reform. Countries like Paraguay (12 points out of 100), Ecuador (14) and Peru (15), were among the worst performers in Latin America in their first diagnostic with this same methodology in 2004. However, sustained political commitment to prioritize this reform over time led to improvements. These three countries are now above the regional average of 40 points.

With a focus on enhancing sustainable development and strengthening partnerships, the IDB remains fully committed to promoting better governments for better lives. The IDB has been a trusted and engaged partner of the Bahamian Government since 1977. At the IDB Group, we remain committed to working closely with the Government of The Bahamas in order that its citizens might enjoy healthier, more prosperous, and productive lives.

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