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OAS and Paraguayan Civil Service Secretariat Sign Cooperation Agreement

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, and the head of the Civil Service Secretariat of Paraguay, Humberto Peralta, signed a cooperation agreement today that establishes a framework for the hemispheric organization to expand its cooperation with the Paraguayan ministry.

The agreement was signed as a follow-up to the support the OAS General Secretariat is providing, through its Department for Effective Public Management (DEPM), to the Government of Paraguay for the consolidation of its management system. At the request of this South American country’s government, the DEPM held a workshop on institution building in February 2014, and it later helped to launch the implementation of a pilot project on a new system for the receipt of complaints in the transparency unit and a new operating plan for the Directorate for Human Resource Management and Development.

Secretary General Insulza underscored that the DEPM and the growing importance of its work were an outcome of the spread of democracy in the region, given that citizens were now demanding greater transparency, information, accountability, and services in general. “Our states have limited capacity in this regard, which shows up in the absence of knowledge about, and experience with, modern and efficient management tools as well as in inefficient and inadequate organizational structures, processes, and procedures, among other things,” he said.

He added that the OAS “has been supporting interested member states in the use of methodologies and tools aimed at achieving management excellence, which provide such benefits as improved public services at lower cost, greater transparency and accountability, broader citizen participation in public programs and policies, and increased faith in public institutions.”

The OAS Secretary General emphasized that “this is a flexible program, which is tailored to countries’ needs. It does not tell countries what they have to do but helps them improve their capacity in specific areas where they deem it essential.”

Minister Peralta, for his part, indicated that “the Civil Service Secretariat considers it an honor and a commitment to sign this agreement with the OAS” and he reaffirmed the promise made by President Horacio Cartes and his government to continue working to make public management more efficient and transparent.

“We are shattering paradigms with regard to the civil service,” the Paraguayan representative said, and he added that since last year his country “is experiencing a ‘democratic spring,’ with the enactment of laws governing access to public information, mandatory disclosure of the salaries of civil servants, and the release of information on the administration’s activities, among other things.
Minister Peralta pledged that his government would continue to move forward in this area, “developing human resource management and development policies. People are always at the heart of our policies because they are the face of our administration.”

Also present were the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay, Julio Arriola; the Permanent Representative of Paraguay to the OAS, Elisa Ruiz Díaz; and the Minister of the National Anti-Corruption Secretariat.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The B-Roll of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-217/14