LOCAL STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

In the current Cuban context the local level is coming to be considered crucial for the development of the country, resulting in the deployment of existing capacities to municipal level and a more efficient and effective management. This requires methods that can integrate institutional decisions – currently fragmented and top-down – according to needs determined at territorial  level, and that includes all the actors in an horizontal development process that requires agility, flexibility, articulation and cohesion. This article recounts the results of a team of experts who have provided technical support to local development planning and management in several Cuban municipalities using a methodological tool that connects diverse individual perspectives, organizes criteria and agrees on priorities, rationalizing and making the most of existing resources, while stimulating creativity in the search for alternatives. Beginning with identification of needs for change and the political will to do it, this tool has enhanced self-management, reinforced the sense of belonging and made the most of citizens’ and institutions’ participation. “Innovative circuits” have been promoted and, in this sense, the technical teams have played the role of “interface” to enhance innovation, cultivate capacities, promote the link between demand and supply and encourage creation of networks.

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