Institutional strenghtening within a public body generally consists of implementing recommendations made by professional technical assistance experts contracted to determine an organization's ability, or inability, to perform the duties it was assigned within the legal framework of the country. Deep and lasting changes must be made in the attitudes of the people who work in the institution for this strengthening of its personnel and the latter need some motivation and incentive for this kind of program to be successful. With the help of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOP) in charge of construction, renovation, maintenance and road concession programs in Ecuador, undertook such a program to strengthen, train and modernize a major part of its work sectors in order to bring about deep and lasting changes. The quality of the execution of the MOP's investment programs inproved. However, due to the fact that not all the people involved in the running of this institution adopted the changes and training (as is the case in other government agencies), the results obtained can be expected to be temporary and will gradually fade away; the institution will revert to the old or similar bureaucratic and inefficient processes. While the salaries of public servants are not commensurate with their professional capabilities and are not competitive in their market, institutional development programs can be expected to have a short-term impact on the sustainable development of the countries in which they are applied. (A)
Samenvatting