By Evelyn Perez From FIU News

The city of Miami recently welcomed more then 550 authorities and public servants from Latin America and the Caribbean for the 21st annual Inter-American Conference of Mayors and Local Authorities.

Organized by FIU’s Institute for Public Management and Community Service and sponsored by Miami-Dade County, the conference promotes democratic, local governance throughout the Western Hemisphere by providing a forum for participants to discuss common goals, experiences, information and best-practices.

“Miami’s geographic location makes us the gateway to the Americas,” said Allan Rosenbaum, director of the Institute for Public Management and Community Service and professor of public administration. “Our airport and seaport are products of decentralized government and serve as examples of what strong, localized governments can accomplish. But, beyond location, few universities in the country can mobilize the depth of expertise on Latin American and the Caribbean as FIU’s faculty can.”

With the theme “Strengthening local governments during times of crisis and conflict,” nearly 50 panelists presented case studies on a variety of issues of importance to the region, including water supply and management; waste management and recycling; energy, climate change, mass transit and traffic congestion; parks and recreation; tax collection; and access to technology and telecommunications.

This year’s conference welcomed participants from more than 21 countries from the region, including Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Honduras, Peru and Puerto Rico. These included representatives from local, regional and national governments; non-governmental organizations; international and donor organizations; and the public and private sectors.

Divier Balanta Ararat, principal of the San Antonio Educational Institution in Jamundi, Colombia, has attended the conference for nearly 15 years. Jamundi has been highly affected by the Colombian armed conflict since 2011. He has witnessed many of his students succumb to gangs, drug and weapons trafficking, and the FARC guerrilla movement. He feels there is a place at the table for educators in helping to strengthen local governments, and understands the value of teaching civic responsibility from a young age.

“You see the same faces at the conference over the years, which allows you to build meaningful relationships and share experiences,” Ararat said. “Coming here allows me to network, share ideas and information, and immerse myself in current events. But I also gain better perspective of what’s happening at home and in the world. I always leave feeling grateful for what we have, and hopeful things will get better, if we all work together to strengthen local governments.”

The 1960s and 1970s saw many nations in the region dominated by authoritarian governments and dictatorships. According to Rosenbaum, many of those governments eventually collapsed in the 1980s for a variety of reasons – poor economic policies, poor fiscal performance or citizenship pressure. As a response to this hemispheric trend, the United States Agency for International Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and the Organization of American States organized the inaugural Inter-American Conference of Mayors and Local Authorities in Washington, D.C. in 1994; it was a means to encourage the strengthening of local governments in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Allan Rosenbaum, director of FIU’s Institute for Public Management and Community Service, speaks at the the 21st annual Inter-American Conference of Mayors and Local Authorities in June.
Allan Rosenbaum, director of FIU’s Institute for Public Management and Community Service, speaks at the the 21st annual Inter-American Conference of Mayors and Local Authorities in June.
Since 1996, FIU’s Institute for Public Management and Community Service has worked with Miami-Dade County in organizing the annual conference. As the largest gathering of local leaders from throughout the hemisphere, the conference continues to build upon previous successes.

“Many of the issues that we talked about when the conference was in its beginning years, we still talk about today. Unfortunately, we’ve seen a decline in the willingness of national governments in the region to work collaboratively in the past decade,” Rosenbaum said. “Achieving progress in institutional reform does not move quickly. That’s why it’s a great thing this event brings local authorities together on a regular and systematic basis. Each year, more progress is made.”

IMAGE: Divier Balanta Ararat (second from left) and educators from San Antonio Educational Institution (Jamondi, Colombia) pose with Christina Rodriguez-Acosta (far left) and Allan Rosenbaum (far right) of FIU’s Institute for Public Management and Community Service.

For more on this story go to: https://news.fiu.edu/2015/07/promoting-democratic-local-governance-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean/90004