Designing Value-Oriented Public Governance: Innovative ideas and practices from the Brazilian experience

We all live surrounded by complex public problems—problems from a global to a local scale, with increasing complexity and affecting many or all, and thus requiring collective solutions. Ranging from social welfare to the environment, peace, trade, and so on, public problems encompass manifold interconnected issues. And, to a great extent, it doesn’t matter whether they come about in a developed or developing country—the intensity and mix of problems may change, but their complexity is inevitable. Positing solutions to public problems is also part of everyday life, such as through public policies carried out by a vast array of institutions (governments, firms, NGOs, international organizations, etc.) in an increasing networked way. Specifically, in this book, we ask what might be done to make institutions better able to cope with the huge challenges posed by contemporary, complex public problems. What kind of institutional solutions increase the chances of success in tackling such problems? How can public governance design be made more effective, more public value oriented? This volume brings together a set of theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to the field of public governance, mostly for use by practitioners and “pracademics” like us, although it should prove of value for academics as well. Thus, we hope that this volume will be both provocative and useful as well as inspiring for all those who have the will and the conviction to put good public governance into action. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "This collection of essays is a thoughtful contribution to the international debate on they way we design, improve and ensure effective governance of public services. It critically reminds us that we need to look at both government and public services from a citizen perspective - with a focus on performance. It explores the impact of adopting a systems perspective and provides insight to the outstanding progress of reform in Minas Gerais. The collection continues an important debate about how governments innovate and can secure better outcomes with the people it serves.” Ray Shostak International adviser in education, government performance and public service reform. "In this new volume, Martins, Marini, Vilhena and Mota bring together insights from the changing world of public sector management and reform, demonstrating how both theory and practice in the ground are advancing. Given their in depth knowledge of recent experiences in performance management in Brazil, the authors consider the evolution from traditional public administration through new public management concepts, to more recent development based on citizen engagement and collaborative governance. Concepts such as the business canvas model and its relevance to the public sector are also highlighted. The authors bring rich new and relevant insights to the theory and practice of public sector reform that will be useful around the globe.” Deborah Wetzel World Bank Director for Brazil "The age of hierarchical and vertical management in government is long gone (if it ever was here). This study by Publix is a great contribution to the difficult exercise of connecting institutional reforms, performance management and networked governance to achieve better results for citizens. And it does so presenting not only novel concepts, but also concrete examples on how to put these ideas into practice.” Mariano Lafuente Public Management Specialist - Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)