I 4 ) the CARIBBEAN QUEST: 2 O J DIRECTIONS for the REFORM PROCESS 25-26 June 1997 Port-Of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
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INT-1762 íI 4 ) THE CARIBBEAN QUEST: 2 O j DIRECTIONS FOR THE REFORM PROCESS 25-26 June 1997 Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago INFORMATION PAPER United Nations Economic Commission for Latín America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Association of Caribbean States (ACS) i i i < i i THE CARIBBEAN QUEST: DIRECTIONS FOR THE REFORM PROCESS Rationale for the conference The pace of political and economic change is accelerating rapidly, globally and within the Caribbean región. The early reform process of the 1980s and 1990s is now being deepened and widened and will give rise to a 'second wave' in public policy management. New solutions are being formulated to meet the rising challenges in the business of development and changes in the political economy of Caribbean societies. In times of great change, leaders need an understanding of the current situation, a clear visión of the future, and the ability to think strategically, negotiate effectively, and consider long-term consequences of particular courses of action. Policy makers and government managers need the technical skills to promote policy change and the resolve to see it happen, while executives of public interest organizations need to be knowledgeable about policy choices and adopt innovative approaches in response to paradigm shifts in social and economic thinking, and create institutions and instruments for the governance process. The "imperatives of adjustment" provided the policy rationale for the 1980s and 90s. The manifestation of present and fiiture objectives requires the development of a strategic programme of action to ensure that the external and internal components of economic development strategies can be integrated into a continuing platform for change. It is hoped, that this process will work towards that synthesis, and provide a strategic framework for sustainable structural and institutional change for the Caribbean in the global economy. The conference will provide a forum for an exchange of ideas among researchers at the university, policy makers in government and executives of the public interest in society, as participants ponder on points of departure from present prescriptions. As such, the conference will - focus on the shaping of new development perspectives within the context of "second generation" strategic issues. This search for directions in the reform process, dictated as it is by the performance, pitfalls and prospects of Caribbean society, is indeed a Caribbean Quest. i i i < i ( < I I iíh THE CARIBBEAN QUEST: DIRECTIONS FOR THE REFORM PROCESS WEDNESDAY 25 JUNE 1997 0830-0945 Opening session Qpening remarks: Mr. Jan Jacques Van Eyndhoven, Resident Coordinator, United Nations System Activities Welcome: Mr. Lancelot Busby, Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Économic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Remarks: Mr. Miguel Ceara-Hatton, Director, Association of Caribbean States. Mr. Frank Maresca, Representative, Inter-American Development Bank. Opening address: His Excellency, The Honoiirable Basdeo Panday, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Peatare address: Re-envisioning the reform process: A State-society synergy perspective - Peter B. Evans, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, and Director, Economic Development Working Group, American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 2 1000-1230 SESSION 1: THE STATE OF STRUCTURAL REFORM IN THE CARIBBEAN- Aftera decade ofreformsin the Caribbean, what comes next? Are wenowin a phase ofmacroeconomic volatility? What are the coping and accumulation strategies to overcome the emergingpolicy crisis? Chair: Winston Dookeran (ECLAC) Presentera: Economic developments in the Caribbean: An analysis of recent performance and policies - T. Harker (ECLAC) Macroeconomic management: Is it working?- Bertas J. Meins (Inter- American Development Bank) Growth, savings and capital formation in a rapidly changing environment: Challenges facing Caribbean policy makers - Bamesh Bamsaran- (University of the West Indies) External economic performance: Is it sustainable? - Shelton Nicholls - (University of the West Indies) Open markets for increased Caribbean competitiveness - Hermaim ron Gersdorff(\Norld Bank) 1230 -1400 Lunch 1400 -1700 SESSION 2: SOCIAL PROCESS FOR CARIBBEAN DEVELOPMENT - Adjustmentpolicies have given rise to a complexity of pressures in the social economy and have alsoraised critica1 issues in the areas of environmental management, communication strategies, gender and eqitíty issues. Public policy has retreated from an active state involvement, and in some ways may have passed the buck' to the socialpartners. Would it help? Is the time not now for radically different approaches, and is there need for a new social development framework? Chair: Wendell Mottley (Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation) Presenters: Building and using social capital: A state-society synergy approach - Peter Evans (University of California, Berkeley) Social capital and economic policy - Karl Theodore (The University of the West Indies) Strategies for poverty reduction in the Caribbean: How to be effective? - Neville Duncan (University of the West Indies) Which globalization: Opening spaces for civic engagement - Bhoendradatt Tewarie (Tlie University of the West Indies) i THUBSDAY 26 JUNE 1997 a SESSION 3: INFORMATION AND GOVERNANCE Chair: Lancelot Busby (ECLAC) Presentation: Information requirements for strategy change - Fay Barraní (Association of Caribbean States) and Caribbean Documentation Centre, ECLAC Kevnote address: Demanding a supply of good government: A coalition for reform of the State? - Merilee S. GrJndle, Edward S. Masón Professor of International Development, Harvard University Coffee break SESSION 4: POLICY CHANGE AND STRATEGIC THINKING - In the managementprocess for change emphasis is now going into new frontiers of development and towards specifíc strategies that will biüld momentiim for change in a global economy. Strategic thinJking therefore is a tool that must be consistently applied. How can we identify these strategic opportunities and plan to make use of them? Will the politics rise to the demands of development? Chair: Sarath Bajapatirana (The World Bank) Presenters: Policy implementation: Meeting the organizational challenge - GaryJ. Beid (The World Bank) Missing elementa in strategic policy making: Are we clear about them? - Arthur A. Goldsmith (University of Massachusetts) Strategic planning of institutional reform: Improving policy outcomes through more acconntable structures - William Ascher (Duke University) New implementation challenges: A flexible specialization paradigm - Auliana Poon (Caribbean Futures Ltd.) Lunch 4 1330 -1630 ROUND TABLÉ: NEW DIRECTIONS IN THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE CARIBBEAN - Why do some gorernments work and others do not, and why do some countries fail and others succeed? Strnctural adjustment implies changesin the political system, shifts in the relative power structure ofsocieties, and political business cycles that sustain 'forward expectations'. Chair: TrevorHarker (ECLAC) Presenters: Challenging the State: Crisis and innovation - Merilee S. Grindle (Harvard University) 'Unshackling' the private sector: A second generation agenda - Sarath Bajapatirana (The World Bank) The integration movement in the Caribbean at crossroads: Towards a new approach of integration? - Uziel Nogueira (Institute for Latin American Integration) Trading places: The future for preferences - Demetris Papageorgiou (Enterprise Research Institute for Latin América) Global framework for policy reform: How do we use it to manage development? - Wendell Mottley (Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation) Caribbean development: The premises of an emerging agenda - Winston Dookeran (ECLAC) 1630 -1700 CLOSING SESSION Chair: Frank Maresca (IDB) Closing remarks: Winston Dookeran (ECLAC) THE CARIBBEAN QUEST: DIRECTIONS FOR THE REFORM PROCESS Presenters William L. Ascher Caribbean International Relations issues, Good William Ascher is Professor of Public Policy Goveraance and Community Development. More Studies aad Political Science, Duke University and recent publications include Mechanisms of is currently Director of Duke's Center for Impoverishment: The Role of Bretton Woods International Development research. Prior to his Institutions and Recommendations of Caribbean current position he held many sénior positions NGOs; and Caribbean Integration: The OECS including Director, Sanford Institute of Public Experience Revisited. He has undertaken Policy, Duke University, Durham NC. His research considerable scholarly work in goveraance, poverty interests are in the areas of strategic planning and and community development and has had forecasting, Latin American development and consultancies with IDB, World Bank, UNICEF, poütics and resource economics. He is the author of ECLAC/CDCC, CARICOM, OXFAM and NGOs. several books including Scheming for the Poor: The Politics of Redistribution in Latin America Fay Durrant (1984) published by the Harvard University Press. Ms. Fay Durrant is Director, Budget and Administraron at the Association of Caribbean Winston Dookeran ^ •v ° States. Ms. Durrant is a specialist in the areas of Winston Dookeran is Sénior Economist at the information and communication technology Economic Commission for Latin America and the policies, assessment of social reforms and Caribbean (ECLAC). His current research interests communication participation in policy making. She encompass the