The Diplomat
Nine people, representing eight countries, are participating, since yesterday, Monday, in Madrid, in the 5th Ibero-American Public Leadership Programme, organised by the Carolina Foundation and Telefónica, which this year is dedicated to Inclusion and Sustainability.
The participants come from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and the Dominican Republic, and hold relevant positions of public responsibility in institutions in their respective countries.
For five days, they will hold an agenda of institutional meetings and academic sessions in which they will have the opportunity to talk exclusively with leading Spanish and European figures on issues at the forefront of expert knowledge on management and public policies that form part of the public and government agenda.
The programme, which was created with the aim of contributing to the strengthening and modernisation of the Ibero-American public administration through the exchange of experiences and best practices, has been consolidated over the years.
In this edition, which will run until 3 December, the theme chosen was “Inclusion and sustainability: policies committed to future generations”, with the aim of debating and reflecting on the challenge posed by the pandemic in Spain and the European Union, as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Sate Secretary for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela; the Director of Global Public Affairs at Telefónica, Trinidad Jiménez; and the Director of the Carolina Foundation, José Antonio Sanahuja.
Pilar Cancela stressed that “celebrating the fifth edition of the Leadership Programme speaks volumes about the degree of consolidation of this initiative, which began in 2016 within the framework of the International Visitors Programme as another instrument of Spanish cooperation to strengthen transatlantic exchanges and links”. For the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, “the high female presence in this edition, more than half of the guests invited to the programme, is proof of the Carolina Foundation’s strong commitment to gender policies, which is a priority for Spanish Cooperation”.
Telefónica’s Director of Public Affairs, Trinidad Jiménez, focused her speech on the importance of digital inclusion: “Technological and digital transformation can eliminate obstacles that today seem insurmountable. Digital solutions have shown that they can reach where social failures arise, favouring social and economic progress through digitisation while generating trust and ensuring a digital transition focused on leaving no one behind”.
José Antonio Sanahuja said: “This new edition of the Ibero-American Public Leadership programme, which is supported by Telefónica, seeks to promote collective reflection and the exchange of experiences and good practices among senior civil servants, to contribute to improving the quality and effectiveness of management and public policies in Ibero-American countries in the face of the challenges of the triple transition: socio-economic, productive and digital, and ecological”.
The participants then attended a lecture by Daniel Innerarity, Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country.
