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National Strategies Case Study
3.5. Lessons and Challenges 3.5.1. The PENX was devised as a result of a series of efforts and initiatives developed over
3.5.2. 3.5.3.
3.5.4.
3.5.5.
3.5.6.
3.5.7.
3.5.8.
time; an understanding of the problem, shared views, and trust amongst private-sector interlocutors and between public and private sector participants are required. The PENX and other management instruments allow a focused approach to the different restrictions affecting the expansion and diversification of productive sector exports. The territorial approach to diagnosis and proposals is essential to work out the problems and bottlenecks facing the decentralized production sector. The creation and implementation of management instruments at the territorial level is more effective. Each region has its own peculiarities, development level, potential resources, supporting institutions, public sector effectiveness level, logistic restrictions, needs for physical infrastructure and human-resource training levels, among other things. By having specific plans properly devised with participatory methodologies that represent consensus among the main trade-representing actors, the use of international cooperation resources can be adequately directed, thus avoiding a duplication of efforts or the inefficient channeling of such scarce resources and, therefore, achieving better results as well. These strategic plans lead to a sense of great expectation in the agents invited to participate. A failure to immediately implement their proposals jeopardizes the participants’ trust, prevents specific results and restricts future possibilities to use similar participatory methodologies. These strategic planning initiatives are not absorbed by the public sector until they are incorporated into their Institutional Operating Plans and, accordingly, reflected in their public budgets. The private sector, which is the main trade actor, needs to operate as the main supervisor of these plans, not only to guarantee that any commitments undertaken will be actually fulfilled but also to make sure that new public authorities (as these usually rotate) maintain the defined plans of action. Transparency mechanisms and the publication of actions plans, their goals, responsible parties and implementation deadlines as well as a detailed progress report will allow for more clear accountability, with each actor taking responsibility and all interested parties supervising past performance.