WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) — The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is calling on Latin America and Caribbean countries (LAC) to coordinate fiscal and human resource management more closely to optimise government employment which accounts for a third of regional public expenditure.

The IDB has released a comprehensive study titled “Better Government for Better Lives” that compiles data from the past 10 years on the professionalisation and modernisation of the civil service in Latin America and the Caribbean.

It said this report provides a detailed overview of the region’s challenges and proposes a roadmap for building a more efficient, inclusive and resilient civil service.

This third edition of the regional study reveals mixed progress on building capacities to boost the performance of the civil service. Some countries showed major progress while in others the gains have slowed over the last decade.

The study highlights improvements in planning and merit-based hiring, as well as training for public employees, an area driven by new technologies and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“But challenges persist including: pay gaps that make it difficult to attract, motivate and retain talent; difficulty implementing performance evaluations, which is a common challenge in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries as well; and limited use of merit-based criteria for top leadership,” the IDB said.

The study also finds significant disparities in the maturity of civil service oversight among countries in the region.

“As the fiscal environment becomes increasingly complex, trust in public institutions erodes and technology changes at a rapid pace, civil service plays a crucial role in making governments’ administrative work more efficient and effective.

“Professionalising the civil service is essential to meet demands for more and better services and foster a merit-based, inclusive, efficient and transparent public administration,” said Paula Acosta, chief of the IDB Innovation for Citizens Services Division.

The study lays out practical recommendations to improve civil service management in the region highlighting the importance of modernising the civil service with a meritocratic and inclusive approach, which is key to restoring public trust and addressing challenges such as climate change and inequality.

Another crucial step toward achieving a more efficient and fairer government for the 21st century is preparing the civil service for digital transformation by attracting digital talent, training public employees and creating collaborative structures.

The report has been presented to the 29th International Conference of the Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarrollo (CLAD) on State and Public Administration Reform that ends in Brazil on Friday.