U. of Chile collaborates in the Tarapacá Regional Development Strategy
“One of the central research and teaching themes of our faculty is territorial development. This includes interest in the management of territories and collaboration with various initiatives, aimed at generating conditions of equivalent access to basic services and development opportunities in regions and municipalities,” said the dean of the Faculty of Government of the University of Chile, Leonardo Letelier, in the presentation of this milestone. The new regional planning instrument was developed by the Regional Government of Tarapacá together with this academic unit.
With twelve votes in favor, the Tarapacá Regional Council, chaired by the governor José Miguel Carvajalapproved the update of the Regional Development Strategy (ERD) 2023 – 2033, the main medium and long-term regional planning instrument, which expresses the major regional objectives and priorities. The document, which will replace the previous ERD from 2011, was developed by the Regional Government of Tarapacáthrough the Regional Planning and Development Division, with the support of the Faculty of Government of the University of Chile.
The new regional planning instrument was presented last Thursday June 13 on the Paseo Puerto EPI, an event in which, in addition to Governor Carvajal and the regional councilors, the dean of the Faculty of Government of the University of Chile participated, Leonardo Letelierthe academic and director of the External Projects Unit, Marcelo Ramirezand the coordinator of said unit, Leonardo Luci.
“One of the central research and teaching topics of our faculty is territorial development. This includes interest in the management of territories and collaboration with various initiatives, aimed at generating conditions of equivalent access to basic services and development opportunities in regions and municipalities.. Our faculty has an extensive history of collaboration on such topics, a very important one being the existence of a master’s degree in the area, and a long list of academic publications and consultancies on the subject,” declared the dean about the importance of being part of these types of processes as a faculty.
For his part, the professor Marcelo Ramirezexplained that “the Faculty of Government, through a team of about 20 specialists in regional development issues, who are part of our own faculty and the Center for Public Systems, associated with the School of Industrial Engineering of the University, was responsible for preparing the regional diagnosis; the construction of future scenarios for the region projected to the year 2033; the definition of the Objective Image and of strategic guidelines, objectives, goals and priority actions for each thematic axis: economic development, human capital, social and cultural development, climate change and environment, urban planning and territory, and regional institutional development.
They also organized the fences 80 citizen participation activities that allowed us to reach a consensus on the regional diagnosis and define, together with regional actors, the future bets for the region, as well as a plan to move in that direction.
Some of the most notable milestones of this process are:
- June – August 2023: Preparation of Diagnosis and Situational Analysis of the region.
- August – September 2023: Preparation of Development Scenarios and proposal of Objective Image.
- October – December 2023: Definition of Guidelines, Objectives and Goals.
- December 2023 – January 2024: Proposal for an ERD Management Plan and Monitoring Plan.
- January – February 2024: Development of the socialization process and approval of the ERD.
To the above, it should be added that each of the stages has contemplated the development of different instances of deployment in all the communes of the region, in the form of workshops, focus groups and interviews with key actorswith the participation of representatives of civil society, indigenous communities, tourism, production, business, among others.
Finally, the technical team was responsible for the generation of a monitoring and evaluation system Regional Development Strategywhich will allow progress to be measured and modifications or adjustments made two (2025), five (2028) and ten years (2033) from its launch.
Access the ERD Regional Development Strategy at the following link: www.goretarapaca.gov.cl/erd-2023-2033/
