New Proposal for a Regional Governance Agenda for Planning and Public Management for Sustainable Development Was Presented in Brazil

The Twentieth Meeting of the Regional Council for Planning of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES) was inaugurated on Thursday, October 2, in Brasília, Brazil. Participants-including authorities and experts-called for the adoption of a Regional Governance Agenda for Planning and Public Management for Sustainable Development, envisioned as a roadmap to achieve a more productive, inclusive, and sustainable future for the region.

This high-level meeting, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Government of Brazil through the National Secretariat of Planning of the Ministry of Planning and Budget, brings together ministers, vice ministers, and planning heads from across the region, along with representatives from international organizations, academia, and civil society. The discussions focus on managing the transformations the region needs to advance toward a new development paradigm capable of overcoming the structural barriers that hinder its economic and social progress.

The inaugural session featured remarks by Márcio Luiz de Albuquerque Oliveira, Deputy Executive Secretary of Brazil's Ministry of Planning and Budget, in his capacity as incoming President of the ILPES Regional Council for Planning (CRP); Martín Francos, Vice Minister of Planning and Public Investment of the Ministry of Finance and Economy of the Dominican Republic, as outgoing President of the CRP; Silvia Rucks, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Brazil; and Javier Medina Vásquez, Acting Deputy Executive Secretary of ECLAC and Officer-in-Charge of ILPES.

Márcio Luiz de Albuquerque Oliveira emphasized that the Regional Council for Planning is, above all, a forum for political and technical dialogue. "ECLAC's role has been central in this process, supporting countries in generating knowledge, particularly in strengthening state capacities. Today and tomorrow, we will advance fundamental discussions to build a regional agenda fully aligned with the 2030 Agenda, exploring new paths for social inclusion, innovation in the public sector, and risk management in the face of global crises," he said.

Martín Francos highlighted that Latin America and the Caribbean face multiple structural challenges that hinder progress toward inclusive and sustainable development, with complex governance and low institutional capacities as a cross-cutting issue. "To address this, ECLAC has proposed ten structural transformations and one cross-cutting transformation, which serves as an enabling environment for development: strengthening institutional capacities, improving governance systems, and consolidating effective mechanisms for social dialogue," the Dominican authority explained.

Silvia Rucks emphasized that public planning is one of the most powerful tools for guiding the sustainable development of states and societies. "I reiterate the United Nations' commitment to supporting Brazil and all its member states in building and implementing their planning efforts," she affirmed.

In her welcome remarks on behalf of ECLAC Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Javier Medina Vásquez, Acting Deputy Executive Secretary of the institution and Officer-in-Charge of ILPES, noted that "in order to escape the three traps that hinder the development of Latin America and the Caribbean, the key question is not only what transformations are necessary, but how to manage them in a context of global uncertainty, internal fragmentation, and rising social tensions. This is at the core of ECLAC's proposal: managing transformations as the central axis of a new development paradigm," he said.

Medina Vásquez added that the Regional Council for Planning is taking a historic step today with the presentation of the Regional Governance Agenda for Planning and Public Management for Sustainable Development, developed collectively through dialogues and consultations. He explained that the agenda aims to provide strategic guidelines for joint action over the next five years and is organized around four strategic pillars: 1) Governance, institutional capacity, and social dialogue; 2) Future-oriented and anticipatory governance; 3) Policy coherence and integration; and 4) Evaluation, public value, and continuous learning.

The inaugural session of the Twentieth Meeting of the Regional Council for Planning included the presentation of ECLAC's publication Technical, Operational, Political, and Prospective Institutional Capabilities (TOPP) for Managing Transformations: Underpinnings of a New Paradigm, delivered virtually by ECLAC Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs. The publication develops the concept of TOPP capacities and their importance not only for designing public policies but also for implementing them effectively, sustaining them over time, and adapting them to changing environments. The presentation was followed by commentary from Virgínia de Ângelis Oliveira de Paula, National Secretary of Planning at Brazil's Ministry of Planning and Budget, and Michelle Muschett, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

In presenting the document, ECLAC Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs emphasized that "it is often not only a question of defining what we should do, but also how to do it. Diagnoses and sound public policy recommendations are not enough if there are no strong institutional capacities to manage transformations. We must move from diagnosis to the management of the essential transformations in Latin America and the Caribbean. This leads us to seek solutions in four areas: 1) governance; 2) the technical, operational, political, and prospective (TOPP) capacities of institutions; 3) spaces for social dialogue; and 4) the political economy of transformations. At ECLAC, we are working on these interrelated areas as an applied research agenda to enrich discussions and the study of specific cases in these dimensions," he said.

"TOPP capacities are essential for any societal change-whether it is reducing poverty, fostering productive transformation with more and better jobs, protecting the environment, improving the quality of education or healthcare, closing gender gaps, promoting digital transformation, or advancing the many other transformations our population needs and deserves," Salazar-Xirinachs added.

The Twentieth Meeting of the Regional Council for Planning of ILPES will continue on Thursday, October 2, and Friday, October 3, with panels addressing technical, operational, political, and prospective (TOPP) institutional capacities for managing transformations; the development of a governance agenda for planning and public management for sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean; and cooperation for implementing the governance agenda for planning and public management in the region. The meeting will also feature the presentation of the ILPES activity report since the Nineteenth Meeting of the Regional Council for Planning and a look of its programme of work for 2026.