The "Inter-American Prize for Innovation in Effective Public Management" is an activity of the Department for Effective Public Management that seeks to enhance public management innovations, systematize, encourage and promote them as useful experiences and possible to replicate elsewhere. This effort seeks to help public institutions of the Americas being more transparent, effective and citizen-oriented.

The first edition of the Inter-American Prize saw a noteworthy participation of 55 public institutions from 13 OAS Member States (Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, México, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay). A total of 14 innovative experiences have been selected, among which four (4) have been awarded in each prize category. The evaluation process has been carried out by a Panel composed by: the OAS Secretary for Political Affairs, Dr. Kevin Casas-Zamora; Dr. Regina Pacheco, Professor at the “Getulio Vargas” Foundation (Brazil); Dr. Gregorio Montero, Secretary General of the Latin-American Centre of Administration for Development (CLAD); Dr. Luis Matos, Director of the Governance Program for Latin America of the Graduate School of Political Management of George Washington University; and Dr. Manuel Villoria, Professor at the Ortega y Gasset-Marañón Foundation of Spain and at Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid, Spain.

It is worthy to mention that the winner institutions of the First Edition have been awarded during a special ceremony held in the framework the II International Seminar on Innovative Experiences in Effective Public Management, which took place in Panama City on March 13th and 14th, 2014. In this event, representatives from the winner institutions had the opportunity to share their experiences with authorities, academics and experts in public management from all OAS Member States. These institutions also won an internship in the Basque Government where their authorities will learn about innovation of that public administration, as well as share knowledge and experiences with other participating authorities. All this effort has been possible with the generous support of the Government of Canada and the Basque Government.

Furthermore, all selected and winning experiences are available on a "Bank of Innovative Experiences for Effective Public Management" that can be accessed from our website (include link), open to public officers, academics and interested public who may know first hand the innovative efforts that public institutions of the Americas make every day in order to provide better public services and fulfill their mandates and objectives for the benefit of citizens that all public servants should.

Finally, it is important to reiterate the invitation to all public administrations of OAS Member States to participate in this call, with the understanding that their efforts will be known and appreciated by the community of public officers of the Americas and will strengthen the bonds of cooperation among our fellow nations and democratic governance in the region as a whole.