WE SHOULD BE HAPPY‌ Due to the prohibition to Ministers to accept interviews, the media will have to return to the investigative journalism and find out some of the tragedies that we live. For example, the corn growers: who authorized to import CORN and when, so that it arrives just in time to harvest? For investigation, why are there no promised silos and other infrastructure to dry and process grains so that small corn farmers save their crops? Why and what for an official price was fixed if the conditions of supply and demand end up benefiting the middlemen again? To analyze and investigate: why harass the exporters who generate dollars and jobs and instead increase customs duties and close imports that produce: A) Decrease in jobs B) Rise in market prices and shortage C) Contraband increasing D) Low competitiveness You are not aware that in a dollarization system, if there are no dollars, imports are lowered automatically. Why is there so much quota and so much additional control? Actually, is the measure to protect the trade balance or to have a micro-control of the economy and business activities? Macroeconomic conditions do not justify the measures. All this, as it happened in Venezuela, generates shortages and, contrary to the discourse, it favors a few who now play more alone on the court. Why do they prohibit cellular import, working tool of the SMEs? Aren't they aware that cellular technology changes each day and that small businessmen have this tool as one of the few measures to reduce competitiveness gap with large firms? They want to build a knowledge society but they limit the access to technology. Inquire why do they act efficiently to increase poverty rather than to increase opportunities or perhaps do they want to liquidate the country having the DOLLAR elimination as a pretext? As they say, “whoever does not know is how you do not seeâ€?. Find out who intervene on the electricity bill to clear the people's pocket; they have not realized that the reading of the light consumption is a tricky way to confiscate the people's pocket. There are several steps to get money out of the people's pocket, especially on the Coast region and particularly in Guayaquil. In summary, investigate in each case who are the beneficiaries .... And do not let them entertain you by the smoke screens of Assange and other antics. All this is to stop us seeing important things and entertain us with the circus.
INTER-AMERICAN BUSINESS FEDERATION XIII CONGRESS "FRIENDLY CITIES: ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT PATH" PICTURES OF THE EVENT
From left to right: Dr. René León, Lcdo. Ismael Cala, Eng. Joyce de Ginatta, Mr. Ricardo Koenig, Mr. César Coronel and Lcdo. Alberto Medina.
From left to right: Dr. Rene Leon, Mr. Cesar Coronel G., Eng. Joyce de Ginatta, Lcdo. Ismael Cala, Lawyer Jaime Nebot, Mayor of the City, Dr. Vladimiro Alvarez, Mr. Alfredo Carvajal, Dr. Roberto Pizarro and Lcdo. Alberto Medina.
Lawyer Jaime Nebot, Mayor of the City, with Eng. Joyce de Ginatta, Dr. Roberto Pizarro, President of the Carvajal Foundation and Mr. Alfredo Carvajal, Carvajal entreprise.
Officers at the inauguration of the event held at the Hilton Colon Hotel in Guayaquil. From left to right: Lcdo. Ismael Cala; Presenter and producter of CNN in Spanish, Lawyer Jaime Nebot, Mayor of the City, Eng. Joyce de Ginatta; FIE President, and Dr. Rene Leon, Economic Development Specialist, Washington D.C.
Panoramic view of the Isabela Event Hall at the Hilton Colon Hotel.
Lawyer. Jaime Nebot, Mayor of the City, opening the FIE event..
Dissertation by Lcdo. Alberto Medina Méndez, journalist. Private Consultant in Communication. Corrientes-Argentina, with the theme “What should countries do to promote entrepreneurship.”
Eng. Joyce de Ginatta, FIE President, speaking at the event about : Entrepreneurship development path.
Recognition to Lcdo. Ismael Cala by the Mayor of the City.
Panoramic view of the Isabella Event Hall at the Hilton Colon Hotel.
Panoramic view of the Isabella Event Hall at the Hilton Colon Hotel.
Conference by Dra. Radmila Pandzic, President of Pandzic & Asociados, entitled “Experiences”.
Conference by Eng. José Delgado, Prefectura del Azuay, entitled “Promoting entrepreneurship networks”.
Dissertation by Dr. Vladimiro Álvarez, former Minister of Labor, with the theme “Human resources and entrepreneurship”
Conference by Eng. Escoffee, entitled experiences“.
Miguel Rendón, “Comercializing
Conference by Eng. Víctor Chiluiza, Expedisa, entitled “Promoting tourism entrepreneurship NETWORKS ”.
Conference by Eng. Giovanni Ginatta, FIE Executive Director, entitled “Bio Commerce”.
Conference by Dr. René León, Economic Development Specialist, Washington D.C., entitled “Challenges for youth in underdevelopment countries ””
Conference by Lcdo. Ismael Cala, Presenter and Producer, CNN in Spanish, entitled “Listen to the leader inside you”
Conference by Lawyer Henry Cucalón, M.I. Municipio de Guayaquil, entitled “ Guayaquil educate yourself and let's learn”
Conference by Dr. Roberto Pizarro, President of Carvajal Foundation, entitled “Associativity and income generation”
Conference by Eng. James Higgins F., Consultant, University Professor, entitled “Ingredients for entrepreneurs in today's world.”
Conference by Mr. Eduardo Radd, InventioESPOL General Manager, entitled “From programming to 101 businesses.”
Conference by Eng. Luis Loaiza entitled “COMETBITS experience with STARTUP CHILE”
CHALLENGES OF YOUTH IN UNDER-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES Dr. Rene León Economic Development Specialist, Creative International Associates, Washington, D.C. Text from the FIE conference held on June 11, 2012 at the Hilton Colon Hotel, Guayaquil. The Arab Spring that protests in many countries such as Spain, Italy, United States, United Kingdom, France, Greece and closer to us, Chile or Mexico (the “Mexican Spring”, reveals a thirsty generation of political, economic and social changes…a youth demanding more democracy, more freedom, more transparency, greater economic and social inclusion, demand to be taken into consideration….the young have acquired a voice, presence and leadership that is transforming the world.
Young people are agents of change in their countries, cities and communities and represent an excellent opportunity to solve problems, but their ability to do so depends largely on the ability of governments to encourage and direct their energy and entrepreneurial spirit supported by public adequate policies that emphasize in the quality of their formal education, their health, that provide them training and technical and vocational training relevant to the demands and requirements of the enterprises, of public and private partners which allow them to have access to mentoring, internships, job training, and to acquire tools and life skills. In few words, they require strategies and policies to meet their employment and income, independence, to gain experience…so they can then form their own families and become responsible, productive citizens and make use in this way of their civil rights.
1. 1.5 billion of youth between 12-24 years old (historical) 2. if youth between 15-24 years old are considered 3. Inflation goes up to 30% of the world population if youth between 15-24 years old are considered 4. In the dark red and orange areas, the youth population is between 40- 50% 5. They are all under-developed countries or in process of development 6. Developed and not developed countries must realize the importance of investing in young people and help them with policies for their development to contribute to society: with wider opportunities, more solid capabilities, and second chances. Investing in youth is an essential mechanism for reducing poverty and promoting economic growth and development here in Ecuador or China.
Visual reference: a glimpse of a century to the youth inflation. The world is becoming more complex and challenging and it is necessary today more than ever, to offer young people the best opportunities to contribute and insert themselves in a better way in the global community.
CHALLENGES OF YOUTH 1. One third of children worldwide are malnourished and suffer from serious diseases. 2. Over 85% of children under 12 attend school (millennium development goal 100%). At 18 years old the percentage is less than 50% and at 24 years old, less than 2% are still studying. Those who complete primary school do not continue studying high school due to financial problems, lack of places in the school, maternity or all of the above. 3. Educational problems faced by youth are varied: poor quality of basic education and serious deficiencies of academic knowledge and learning for work and for life; poor access to health services and information (for example in African countries like Zambia and Ghana people are ignorant about the causes of HIV / AIDS regardless of the educational level. All this severely reduces the chances of the young people. 4. There are from 150 to 170 million children below the growing weight and height in relation to age. 5. Conflicts are "generational": youth are defenseless economically, they face social and political exclusion. 6. International Labor Organization (ILO): 75 million young people are unemployed and growing because of the global economic crisis (Developed countries/Less developed countries). Most affected are the poor in Less Developed countries, but also middle class.
7. Transition from the school to work is difficult: teaching interruption problems, unemployment/inactivity prevent from creating skills and work experience, creating difficulties for employability, mobility, low pay. 8. The youth unemployment rates are much higher than adults. Millions of young people have no vocational-technical tools to enter the labor market. The cost of closing the gap is very high. Challenges are changing the paradigm of youth development: Agencies for International Development Cooperation, the World Bank, United Nations programs, institutions like the ILO, governments, NGOs and other organizations of civil society are changing the paradigm of youth development, investing to take advantage of their "hunger" to change the world: giving a treatment of wave youth, and not an inflation or youth problem. In addition to coordination and inter-institutional consultation, this implies: Design, implement and support adequate policies and institutions to help young people overcome their own problems and help solve the problems of society. RAJIV SHAH: “YOUNG PEOPLE ARE IMPORTANT ACTORS, PARTNERS AND LEADERS IN SHAPING THEIR COMMUNITIES AND ECONOMIES”. Foster a culture of thinking based on the creative capacity of young people, in their entrepreneurship and in a winning mentality of development and changes in the world by and for young people so that they can become tomorrow leaders, but contributing to solve today problems. Public policies and Intervention Areas: governments, communities, private sector, NGO’s y CSO’s Quality educational policies: literacy, critical thinking and numerical; development, training and support from teachers, reform and modernization of schools, student services, specialized curriculum, accelerated learning. WFD: VOTEC to employability or to open a system. Life skills: communication, self-confidence, decision making, goal setting, teamwork, second languages, computing, entrepreneurship. Strengthening of institutional capacities (TVETS) ENTREPRENEURSHIP: VII. Self Employment and MSMEs - Seed capital, technical assistance, business training. VI. Design, Monitoring, Evaluation of projects and programs. V. Cross-functionality - Partnerships with private sector, NGOs, municipalities, and PPPs. IV. Tools and approaches - Multi-sectorial, integrated, sustainable, loan, guarantee funds, Private Led. III. There are vacancies to be successful - Overcoming mental, cultural, historical, bureaucratic, financial barriers. II. Entrepreneurship - Business creativity, actor of the local economy, threats converted into opportunities. I. Entrepreneurship is an attitude of life - to achieve economic and human goals and address and face challenges and problems. BE PLUS ONE AND NOT ONE MORE.
LISTEN TO THE LEADER INSIDE OF YOU
Lcdo. Ismael Cala Presenter and Producer CNN in Spanish
My lecture was based on one chapter of my first book coming out in January 2013 entitled “THE POWER OF LISTENING� by Nelson Group publishing.
Spiritual Leadership At the conference I had the pleasure of sharing my story of how I have followed the road to success studying the steps taken and followed by leaders who today have become my heroes and mentors. I hope I have achieved in the audience the understanding that being a leader is not a capability that has been denied, prohibited and taken away by God or fate. The path to leadership in any field of life we choose, is a path of success because this is what we will project as we learn, every failure brings us a lesson and opens the door to a wonderland where the treasure actually to be discovered is not only an economic, material, financial success, but personal growth and improvement. Becoming leaders of our lives, allows us to discover who we are, beyond where we come from and where we go. The process will redefine the path that until now you had in your life or will reaffirm it if you're on the right track. There are many examples of great world leaders who consciously found the connection, such as Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and many several others that might appear in your mind. Deepak Chopra inspired me through his reading and deep analysis that there is nothing wrong with the desire of becoming a leader; not necessarily that word must be related to the ambition, greed, thirst for power and control. Something, that actually coming from Cuba, I found it difficult to understand because in my youth the word leader was listened and was clearly linked to politics.. I was a leader of my college, secretary of culture and then college leader of my Faculty of Arts and Letters. I represented my fellow student community in the National Congress of the FEU, Federation of College Students of Cuba. I was a leader, according to those parameters of the UJC, the Union of Young Communists of Cuba. So I grew up, seeing that the leaders were those who took on the commitment to accept public office, and in Cuba, everything is related to politics, or almost everything because nothing is absolute in this life. Hence, my vision of being a leader, when I Ieft Cuba, was difficult for me to try to reconcile myself with that word, that concept, where for 28 years I had left my destiny and part of my life under the decisions of political leaders. When I let go all of those preconceptions of what a leader is, absolving them of politics, I understood that in almost all stages of my life, without meaning it, I was a leader, just for the sake of trying to do always my best, and be consistent with my purpose, even if it was not too clear for me consciously, of who I was as a human being of light and spirit. We all complain at some point, of the decisions taken by our leaders because later in the day much of what is happening around us has to do with decisions made by other mortals like us with the same physical constitution, flesh and blood; they are not demigods nor super gifted in many cases.
These are people who instead of following the herd, with forgiveness than can be offended, they become the leaders of it with the power to decide and change the path of an entire society, a group or a community united by common interests , race, culture or simply circumstances. My purpose was to talk with a very clear distinction between boss and subordinate concepts, and a true leader with his followers, his staff and associates. A boss often imposes his authority through fear, false authoritarianism. The leader earns that status for example, by admiration of others, for their ability to listen and represent the interests of many, let's not talk about all of them because it is unrealistic to think in social absolutes. Before more than 1200 young people, I tried to share that seed of curiosity to discover what is their true passion in life, that moves them, where do they feel most useful, on it. I do not pretend that each of us in the world aspire to be president of his nation, or CEO of a large company, but at least that each of us can see that within each human being, the program that allows us to take charge of our life and make of it a masterpiece is already installed. This is the first purpose of a leader, and for each person, before leading others, we must become the leader of our own life path. I thank for the invitation to Mrs. Joyce Ginatta, Giovanni and all those who organized the seminar of Friendly Cities. It was a wonderful experience. I thank the Mayor Jaime Nebot for honoring me as a Distinguished Guest of the city of Santiago de Guayaquil. An honor, thanks! I hope to return soon. Do not forget that more of these stories appear in THE POWER OF LISTENING, my first book coming out in January 2013.
END OF THE EXPANSION CYCLE, UNSUSTAINABLE MODEL
Ec. Jaime Carrera Director of the Fiscal Policy Observatory The economic model supported by the work of the state as the hub of the economic, political and social activity, in terms of a disproportionate public spending that evolved at the rate of increase of the oil revenues and public debt, has reached the limit of sustainability at the same time that the oil prices has completed its expansion cycle. This appraisal is based on the effects of the severe European crisis, the slowdown of China΄s economy, the weakness of the United States economy and the historical evidence of the cycles of expansion and contraction of the raw material prices in the last 200 years. WITH A PRICE OF $ 97 PER BARREL, THE ECONOMY SURVIVE In 2012 $ 10.400 million in taxes will enter the budget. If the average price of a barrel of oil stays at $ 97, same as 2011, $ 5.500 million will be obtained from oil. By adding $ 1.500 million for non-tax revenues and others, the TOTAL REVENUES will be $ 17.400 million. The imperative expenditures are: salaries $ 7.700 million, goods and services $ 1.500 million, transfers to the social security $ 800 million, Human Development Bond $ 800 million, debt interests $ 800 million, transfers to Municipalities and Provincial Councils $ 2.600 million, current social expenditure and others included, such as investment $ 1.200 million; infrastructure maintenance, grants and minimum works, $ 2.000 million. TOTAL EXPENSES $ 17.400 million. With an oil price of $ 97 per barrel, the country can barely sustain an inflexible and inefficient spending, which in the whole economy reaches 50% of GDP including the payment of import costs (Table 1). Meanwhile, deficiencies in education, health and other social and infrastructure needs are unlimited and evident. In addition, loans are required to pay about $ 1.000 million of amortization of the external debt and to undertake additional investments. Furthermore, foreign direct investment is almost zero, the GDP per capita is only $ 375 a month, remittances are reduced, the non-oil trade balance reached 13% of the GDP. At the same time, society has led to dependence of the government and oil, the credit has exacerbated, asset prices are overvalued, salaries are above productivity, high inflation is not for a dollarized country and the country΄s location in the rankings of competitiveness and others is regrettable. The upward cycle in oil prices comes to an end (Table 2) without changing the production structures to sustain high growth rates with the intervention of private investment, within a framework of economic freedom and security for doing business. INVESTORS LOOK ELSEWHERE As shown in Table 3, the foreign direct investment was only $ 568 million, only 0.4% of $ 153 billion that nested in Latin America. In per capita terms, Chile received $ 1.000, Uruguay $ 740 and Ecuador $ 40. At the household level, the public investment, at current prices, reached 15% of GDP and private stagnated at around 14% of GDP. The low private investment, domestic and foreign, is the result of a hostile environment reflected in the legal uncertainty, tax instability, distrust in the economic and fiscal sustainability at medium and long term and in many other factors. The elements opposed to investment are reflected in the high country risk close to 900 points, the third highest in the region, in the position behind in the Business Climate Ranking, in the sovereign debt rating far from the investment climate; and, in the premium to secure public foreign credit to five years which is around 23% while in most countries of the region is between one and two percent. The economic model supported by the public investment, high government spending and subsidies, has been unable to sustain growth rates above 6% in the long term. On the contrary, spending 111 billion dollars over five years, higher than the previous 25 years at current rates, resulted in an economic growth of 4.2% on average, in a decrease of only 9 points in poverty, in the existence of four million poor living with less than $ 72 a month and three million underemployed, and an annual per capita income of $ 4,500.
GREATER DEPENDENCE ON OIL AND ISOLATION Between 2006 and 2011 the state revenue dependence on oil revenues step from 25% to 40% and the weight of oil exports in total exports has remained at 60%, without having diversified the export base, which constitutes 80% of traditional products and oil. The privacy policy of trade flows, investment and capital, has marginalized our country of the integration with countries like Colombia, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, which have reached levels of investment and maintain an economic conception encouragement to the markets, to free trade, competition and investment. Submission to the State's action of private enterprise activity, the high public spending that cannot be sustained, the vulnerability of public finances, exports and the economy, the volatility of oil activity, condemned Ecuador to stagnation and economic backwardness, widening development gaps with the rest of the world. THE MODEL INDUCES TO CONSUME, NOT TO SAVE OR INVEST In Chile, the Living Wage is $ 388 equivalent to 33% of GDP per capita monthly, in Uruguay the two magnitudes are $ 360 and 31%, in Brazil $ 388 and 38%, in Colombia $ 327 and 55%, in Peru $ 278 and 58%, in Ecuador $ 292 and 80%. When the Living Wage does not respond to the economic capacity of a country, investments go away because of the high cost that this represents to business and to the decline in their competitiveness. Furthermore, it also increases the informality and close small businesses. It also increases inflation which is negative for investment. High inflation, which is higher in a dollarization system, is largely a result of the disproportionate government spending that exacerbates consumption, which along with inflation leads not to save at interest rates that barely cover the increases in price. Besides, the absence of assurances and incentives, investment is discouraged by the preference to save in terms of up to 180 days, maximum one year, due to the distrust of medium and long term. The high public spending that consumes oil and debts, in parallel increases the liquidity of the economy which is reflected in higher deposits in the financial system, making possible the increase in consumer credit (Table 4). In short, the economic environment leads to consume, to save less, and not to invest. To induce society to save, invest and promote the credit for production, the government should not distort the economic and social behavior by feeding the economy liquidity with wrong public policies. When the sources of liquidity disappear, economy must adjust and crisis arise that lead individuals and enterprises to abandon fiction standards. Table 1 NON FINANCIAL PUBLIC SECTOR SPENDING* Year
% GDP
2000
24,3
2006
23,6
2007
27,1
2008
40,2
2009
39,6
2010
42,1
2011
48,8
Source: Central Bank. OPF. * From 2008 it includes Derivatives
CADID import account.
Table 2 Average oil price Year
$ barril
2000
24,8
2006
51,8
2010
71,9
2011
97,0
2012*
106,0
2012**
83,5
Source: Central Bank * January- April ** June 1
Table 3 2011 Foreign Direct Investment Country
$Millions
Brazil
66.660
Mexico
19.440
Chile
17.299
Colombia
13.234
PerĂş
7.659
Ecuador* TOTAL LATIN CARIBBEAN
568 AMERICA
AND 153.630
* 0,4 % of the total
Table 4 Liquidity, Deposits, Credit, Public Expenditure. Variation rates Year
Liquidity
Deposits
Credit
Public expenditure*
2008
21,9
17,5
17,9
73,3
2009
8,8
5,5
4,6
-5,3
2010
16,9
21,3
22,6
17
2011
19,7
23,3
17,6
33,3
* In 2008 import expenditure was included in derivatives, which increases the growth rate. Source: Central Bank
CORRECT IMBALANCES IN ECONOMIC GROWTH Dr. Claudio M. de Rosa SICONSULTA President El Salvador While the G-20 reaffirms the commitment to "reduce imbalances by strengthening the public finance of the deficit countries through strong and sustainable policies," it makes clear that "strong, sustainable and balanced growth" is the main priority. To take "all necessary measures" to "promote growth and employment", "strengthening demand and restoring confidence" are the main commitments made by member countries of the so-called G-20, whose economies generate nearly 90% of the world GDP. There is an important approach change, that instead of putting greater emphasis on reducing imbalances, especially fiscal ones, it passes to one that emphasizes economic growth and financial stability, as an indispensable condition to "create high quality jobs and opportunities". To the extent that Europe still do not show signs of overcoming the crisis but of great economic weakness, leaders of other nations feel their own economies threatened. Therefore, the president of the United States of America, Barack Obama said: "the world is concerned about the slower growth that has occurred lately," to which he added, "we must stand together to do what is necessary to stabilize the global financial system and avoid protectionism. "Thus, the G-20 has also sought to project an image of unity among the leaders of the major world economies, as it was done in the midst of the economic and financial meltdown of 2008-09. In this context, the vision of adjustment with measures that do not hinder further European economies, begins to take shape and support because it will imply a new global economic recession that would drag down financial systems, with an even harsher impact than the one of 2008-09. This, with the aggravation that now there is no financial cushion as it was four years ago. The final declaration of the recent Summit reveals the deep concern of the G-20, noting the "heightened tensions in financial markets" due to the risk of insolvency of many European banks, which can drag the entire global financial system. This is added to the range of "external, fiscal and financial imbalances" which further obscure the view and directly threaten "the outlook for growth and jobs", a situation that erodes the confidence of investors and consumers. The summit declaration is accurate: "Clearly, the global economy remains vulnerable, with a negative impact on the daily lives of people around the world, affecting employment, trade, development and the environment." While the G-20 reaffirms the commitment to "reduce imbalances by strengthening the public finance of the deficit countries through strong and sustainable policies," it makes clear that "strong, sustainable and balanced growth" is the main priority, as this leads to “more jobs and increase the welfare of people around the world”. To support this approach, the G-20 is committed to “take all necessary policy measures to strengthen demand, to bolster the global growth and restore confidence”. As the crisis has no clear signs of solution, the G-20 proposes that if the economic situation further deteriorate, the countries with sufficient margin for budget maneuver, as in the case of Germany, should be willing to "coordinate and implement budgetary measures to support domestic demand." The question that arises is why there is a change of approach in the search for solution of the crisis? Simply because the hard orthodox adjustment approach, unreservedly focused on reducing spending and raising taxes, -policies that slow any economic recovery effort-, has tended to
aggravate the socioeconomic situation in the Euro Zone countries and weakened governance, that is threatened by the rapid increase in poverty, and can recall with concern, what was experienced in the thirties. The other question is, where is the main cause of this crisis? As its reply forces to enter ideological conception ratings; the left, as it always does, will seek to find guilty in the private business, banks, investors, consumerism and everything that is used not to have responsibilities. But clearly, the epicenter of the origin of this crisis, which has thrived and matured over time, is located in the actions of the so-called "welfare state" that after having great results from social progress, has shown that it is not sustainable without other resources, beyond national borders, such as those provided by Europaen colonies. The lesson is clear: social services that enhance fiscal deficits, beyond the financial capacity of the countries, may be financed temporarily, which after some time, will fall hopelessly in difficulties to pay. This is like a family budget or a company of any size: you cannot spend more than what you received in a salary or profits that are achieved. As those who lend to governments are "banks", they forget that their money comes from depositors or investors, big capitalists or simple persons who invest the savings of a lifetime to have an income or supplement of their pension. Therefore, the attention is focused on the payment capacity of governments, because if this collapses, both the lives of the bank and the welfare of thousands of depositors and small investors are at risk. That is the main problem: behind the banks and the "bankers" are the small depositors and investors. Given the financial connotation of the crisis, the G-20 has also demanded the construction of a "more integrated financial architecture", which includes creating "a single European supervisor for the bank" and a "fund of common deposit guarantee" for a "deposit insurance", as well as to take action to recapitalize banks. This is considered as a first step in the construction of the new financial architecture of the Euro Zone, to prevent the disintegration of this monetary conglomerate, because the cost would be catastrophic for the global economy. Hence the mandate "complete the Economic and Monetary Union" of Europe. To this is added the commitment to make "adjustments within the member countries through structural reforms to strengthen competitiveness in the deficit countries and to promote demand and growth in the surplus countries" as well as to "complete the Single European Market and better use of the European funding sources." The European crisis provides important guides to the various countries: (i) that the government rationalize spending and increase efficiency in resource use, (ii) keep in mind that it does not get ahead by raising or creating more taxes, because they inhibit the economic activity and put pressure on prices, (iii) search how to refinance the public debt, (iv) maintaining effective supervision of the financial system, including adequate capitalization, and (v) that the state provides companies and business creation and as well as their market performance, to contribute to higher levels of competitiveness. All this in an atmosphere that brings "confidence" and "unity" to confront the crisis, to induce domestic investment and attract the foreign one, key factors for growth, to create jobs and national wealth. In pears and apples: with no growth you do not get out of a crisis and without trust there is no growth, nor jobs nor increased tax.
TAX REGULATIONS Econ. Wilson Ruales M. Tax Advisor In the early sixties, it was observed in the country a leafy tax system with a multiplicity of taxes levied on various types of transactions, activities and products with applications in cantonal, provincial and national jurisdictions. There was such a chaos by the fact that municipalities, provincial councils and of course the Congress and the National Government had the power to create taxes. It was admirable the creativity to impose taxes of various kinds as lawmakers seek busily funding sources to meet the long-awaited work by their constituents and the President of the Republic was subjected to all kinds of pressure to pass laws, many of which, passed by the Ministry of Law to save the "presidential responsibility. Such a tax system became one of the main obstacles to the national economic activity since many products were taxed by going in and out, or transiting through the different cantons, which absurdly increased the costs of such products and facilitated the internal smuggling of same. This situation caused the tax reforms of 1962 and 1964 which basically consisted of the removal of a large number of cantonal and provincial taxes and the unification of taxes levied on specific goods such as bananas, beer, cigarettes, soft and alcoholic drinks. Also in 1966 it was issued the Municipal Regime Law, limiting the power of municipalities in tax matters, which was also done later with the Provincial Regime Law. Nationally and in the various processes of issue of the new constitutions it has been reaffirmed several fundamental aspects of taxation, which can be summarized as follows: a) That the taxes, besides being means of financing government spending, must be instruments of economic politics to stimulate investment, production and employment and social politics instruments to contribute to the redistribution of wealth and promote social and environmental responsibility. b) The tax system should also respond to the principles of efficiency and administrative simplicity, to which, tax policy should include a uniform and technique guidance, therefore it was considered essential to reserve as exclusive power of the President's initiative for submission of tax bills projects, to allow shaping a tax system with the least possible taxes. c) Due to the significance of the topic, the trend has also meant that the debate and the issue of the tax law, as representative of all citizens, is reserved for the legislative function. The Constitution currently in force has not departed from this trend and in its Article 300 establishes the principles that will govern the tax system and establishes that the tax policy will promote redistribution and will encourage employment, goods and services, environmental, social and economic responsibility conducts. Article 301 reiterates that "only by the initiative of the Executive and by law enacted by the National Assembly, may establish, modify, waive or extinguish tax ...". As you can see Article 301 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador, currently in force, requires two basic and inexcusable conditions for the creation, amendment or termination of a tax; the first one, that the bill be an initiative of the President of the Republic and, second, that the National Assembly discuss it according to the process provided in the Constitution and issue the tax law; obviously it will continue to the subsequent sanction or objection process by the President.
Art. 140 of the Constitution provides for the processing of bills referred by the President of the Republic who have qualified them as an economic emergency and the National Assembly should approve or deny them within thirty days ; if within this delay the Assembly has not acted, the President shall promulgate it as a "decree-law". If the rules of Arts.140 and 301 are analyzed, you can reach the conclusion that the legislature in drafting the Constitution, clearly differentiated the treatment of tax bills and others that may be declared economic emergency, as these latter not having been processed by the Assembly can be enacted as a "decree-law", while a tax bill must be inevitably discussed by the National Assembly, whose exclusive role is to issue the tax law. This was foreseen by the Legislator taking precaution of the fundamental principle of the "Book of Law", which means that only citizens through their representatives and though a law, may be imposed levies. Therefore, it is noteworthy that for a confusing action of the Tax Commission, the National Assembly did not discuss the project called "Environmental Law Development and Optimization of the State Revenue", which was finally enacted as "law-decree" in the Official Gazette No. 583 of 24 November 2011; this is in contradiction with the constitutional provisions above. It is regrettable to note that it is evident the lack of accountability of legislators to fulfill their basic obligations in dealing with issues of such importance. It is noteworthy that in that "decree-law" not only taxes are create or change, but that also the nature of the tax returns are reshaped, provides institutional changes, modifies the Hydrocarbons Law and introduces dangerous amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure, with which it has been unobserved the provisions of Section 136 of the Constitution which provides that the bills should relate to one subject. All this deserves the responsible attention of the legislators. On the other hand, the second paragraph of Article 11 of the Tax Code, referring to the validity of the tax rule says: "However, the rules relating to taxes whose determination or settlement be made on an annual basis, as purely declaratory act, they shall be applied from the first day of the next calendar year, and since the first day of the next month, in the case for shorter periods. " Despite this provision, the tax authority required to pay certain taxes from the day of the term of the "decree-law", this is November 24, 2011, displaying excessive power. It can be said that with the trend towards the creation of new taxes, a path contrary to that which began with the tax reform of the early years of the sixties is being opened.
THESE ARE YOUR BELIEFS, STUPID
Alberto Medina Mendez (Argentina)
Many people try to find a reasonable explanation for everything that happens in politics. They do not totally understand why there is so much corruption, why politics has become a perverse activity and without attain that the good, common sense and wisdom, govern us. People is not tired of repeating that they would like things to be otherwise, that the leaders are honest and that politics become a real tool for change. Society in this intellectual journey, seeks to achieve to clarify what is happening and theorize about different possibilities. Sometimes they prefer to choose responsible beside themselves and in that game they rant against politicians; they describe them as a caste of poor creatures, full of defects showing the worst of a community. Sometimes they interpret that what happens has to do with conspiracy issues, assuming that a group representing economic, political, sectorial interests, if not criminal, conspires to obtain a self−benefit in exchange to injure everyone. But the explanation is actually much closer, it is in the mirror, and we can find it when we look ourselves as a community and we see ourselves as we really are. The things that happen have to do with what we think. We are as we are because we do what we do. Because we act as accomplices, contributing actively with all the bad, or sometimes in an indolent way, giving up our values, to end up being functional with the incorrect issues. The truth is that society has decided, as a result of individualities, to adhere themselves to an inadequate system of ideas, endorse abuses and all these fits with what happens every day. Individuals defend an ideology that creates what we have today as present and that is not compatible with the human essence. People ask for more state, controls, public intervention, and that puts in the hands of governments (and leaders) a lot of arbitrariness, discretion and the resulting concentration of power that derives from these instructions. It has been us with our ideas who delegate the power from the citizens towards politics generating areas of excess of power where the state runs on individual liberties that he destroys daily. We have done it through ignorance, comfort, resignation or beliefs, but anyway we continue holding those flags, every day, in public demonstrations when we, citizens, ask for MORE to the state, more meddling in the governments, and steady hand to politics, almost claiming a leadership that emulates that of the warlords. That delegation of responsibilities to the state means that politics dispose of the “box� administration and thus has many resources that are subtracted in advance from the individuals, removing from them a significant portion of the fruits of their labor, the ones that they get every day with effort.
The concentration of power and money to finance it, makes the exercise of political activity highly dangerous for communities. But we are no there by chance. This has happened in the context of a society that continues delegating responsibilities, who prefers not to assume them, that aims to claim solution to governments when this has empirically demonstrated its disability and repeated failures. Just as an example of this, we might say that we live in a society that exacerbates the patriotic, to the point of making a rejecting culture to foreigners, causing a visceral xenophobia, the one that comes from the heart. Politics takes it, understands it and develops it proposing restrictions to what is not his own with protectionist measures so that foreign issues does not have access to local ones, and stimulating a national spirit that nourishes hate and discrimination by origin. A community that segregates, that differentiates and ends achieving which in theory do not fit his declaimed vision about equality before the law among human beings. Another paradigm is the one by which our communities fight success, growth, reject all what is wealth and in everyday language ends justifying to help the small and attack the big ones, the rich, the one that has achieved success in their business. The accumulation is frowned upon and is associated with greed and an innumerable list of alleged sins. An apology is also done daily to help those who have less therefore the concepts of solidarity, altruism, compassion and humanism are then mixed. This cocktail means that there is a moral mandate that those who have more must yield to the less fortunate. It is under this format that ideologies have grown defending the issue of increasing the tax burden to plunder those that generate wealth to give it to those that do not. The deepening of this vision is just what we know today, with some euphemism such as “social policies” that end up justifying that the state take out from some to give it to others, in a coercive way, violating the individual will and imposing a social guarantee electoral mechanism by holding the attitude of robbing, which ends up creating division in the society between those who produce and parasite. The list describing our beliefs is extensive, and the above serves only as an example of how our beliefs specifically affect politics and the real world. Corruption, lust for power, political perversity and discretion as a rule of play, are just some of the most obvious by-products of our system of ideas, those that we recite daily as a society. We are as we are because we think what we think. We must stop deceiving us, we have to stop looking for twisted and unusual explanations. Paraphrasing that slogan of the contemporary politics, next time that we analyze what happens to us, we must think that “they are your beliefs, stupid”.
TRAINING ENTREPRENEURS: ASSOCIATIVITY AND INCOME GENERATION Dr. Roberto Pizarro Carvajal Foundation
Text from the FIE conference held on June 11, 2012 at the Hilton Colon Hotel in Guayaquil. THE ORIGINS OF THE CARVAJAL FOUNDATION There cannot be a healthy company in an ill social environment because sooner or later the ills of society will disrupt their performance. Therefore, the entrepreneur responsible must necessarily engage in solving social problems. – Manuel Carvajal Sinisterra, 1960 Aware of the commitment that companies have with the solution of the critical needs of their social environment, the Carvajal family decided to create a mechanism to work for change and social and economic development for the benefit of the lower classes of Cali and the Valle del Cauca. They gave a percentage of its assets, today equivalent to 23.5%, to create the Foundation and ensure their autonomy and sustainability. It is a donation given in life and in perpetuity. MICRO ENTERPRISE PROGRAM The Foundation launched a program to stabilize small enterprises and help them to thrive. Understanding that the lack of managerial skills and access to institutional credit were the main causes of failure among the micro-entrepreneurs, they created a course on small business management, especially designed for people with one or two years of formal schooling The program consisted of:
Basic principles in management
Personalized advice
Accompanied credit
Support services to micro entrepreneurs
Our focus We work in a territorial approach with families and communities living in highly vulnerable urban and rural areas. We found high levels of poverty, but above all much dislocation and discrimination. But these are also communities with strength and desire to succeed. How to promote entrepreneurship with successful associative schemes? Inclusive business How to link vulnerable population into the formal economy?
Inclusive business is a business initiative, without losing sight of its goal of profit, it contributes to overcome poverty through the incorporation of low-income people in their value chain. LESSONS LEARNED Key factors affecting the success of entrepreneurship in highly vulnerable communities:
Working with the human being and his family – all initiatives must arise from the community.
Opportunities from market needs – compliance with conditions of price, quality, delivery.
Comprehensive training - Development of skills, knowledge and practices for living and working in the community.
Political will and commitment of the anchor company policies (top management) and communities to initiate productive integration processes under formalization schemes.
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Later support, intense at first, but gradually and decreasing
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Generation of local capacities – self-government. Promote business empowerment schemes (change of mentality of artisans to entrepreneurs).
Our goal, in so vulnerable communities, with so high uprooting, is: to induce entrepreneurship. Big problems are not solved with great solutions, but with many small solutions. This is why we talk about human-scale economy: things work where you are a subject and have presence and not when they consider you from the abstraction of a statistical number. The question is to reproduce these local experiences and create a broader base. -Manfred Max Neef
HUMAN RESOURCES AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Dr. Vladimiro Alvarez Grau Former Minister of Government, Education and Work Text from the FIE conference held on June 11, 2012 at the Hilton Colon Hotel in Guayaquil. I want to thank you for letting me share, in a few minutes, some reflections about a fundamental issue in the life and development of our society. Like many of you, every day, we can feel the tragedy of many people who feel a great frustration in their own life due to the inability to be humanly and, in many cases, due to the difficulties, that they try to overcome, to survive with dignity…themselves and their families…men and women, young or not. ►1) WHICH IS OUR SOCIAL REALITY? In our country of 100 new people able to work, 17 do not find any type of employment. Exactly 16.9% of the economically active population (EAP)… Almost a million people do not have a place to work. In addition, approximately 40% of permanent underemployed and unemployed. They do not find where to work ... Despite the number of folders that they deliver everywhere. Despite all the recommendations they get ... Despite how much some of them study, and ... despite how much they search for. In our country, in the first half of last year, 91 of every 100 households (out of 100, 91) failed to use some kind of staple food. And 67 out of 100 families decided to postpone medical care of their children under 15. 50 out of 100 (50%) got themselves into debt to cover basic needs. Finally, I want you to notice that 25 out of 100 (25%) failed to pay the rent of their homes, and 18 out of 100 families, had to sell some of their belongings in order to subsist. The levels of poverty and homelessness have grown explosively in recent years. According to reliable statistics, while in 1995 the poor in Ecuador reached 3 million 927 thousand people, fifteen years later they surpassed 7 million 81 thousand people. The homeless have doubled over the same period, since they increased from 1 million 386 thousand people, to 2 million 655 thousand people. Both in the countryside as in the cities…. (Statistics from SIICE- INEC- Inter American Development Bank) I hope that the few figures I have mentioned as an introduction to this talk, serve to promote some reflections on the profound crisis that we live since some years ago, its impact on the most vulnerable social sectors, and the urgency of taking action to meet the unmet basic needs, as an essential first step for development and competitiveness. ► 2) WHICH IS OUR EDUCATIONAL REALITY? If we want to know the impact that education has in our country's competitiveness, it is imperative that we must also know about our reality in that sector.
Do you know that 1 out of 3 children fail to complete the 6 years of primary education, and that 4 out of 10 leave school or high school? And that 9 out of 10 children of the rural sector does not attend secondary? It is necessary for you to know that 2 out of 10 schools (20%) have no electricity, running water or sewage. But in single-teacher schools, 98 out of 100 (98%) have no sewage. On the other hand, it is necessary to see the results of the learning levels of our children and youth. The average results of more than 95,000 student achievement tests taken by the National Measurement of Academic Achievement in primary and secondary section of our country, supported by the World Bank and UNESCO few years ago, were as follows: 1) in LANGUAGE the grades under 20 were: in 2° grade………………….....…10,43 in 6° grade……………….....……11,15, and in 9° grade (current 3rd.course)….12,86
2) in MATHEMATICS, the results under 20 were: in 2° grade………….10,43 in 6° grade………….07,17 in 9° grade………….07,29 Attention: all under 20 ! 3) in READING COMPRENHENSION, the results were even poorer, since when a student was asked to read one or two pages, and then he was asked to explain its contents and describe the difference between facts and opinions, the percentage of comprehension was less than 5 out of 20. If we apply the criteria that to pass a test requires a minimum of 70% (7 out of 10, or 14 out of 20), we conclude that education in Ecuador, at least in the three subjects investigated, is a disaster. On average, no one approve. I ASK: ¿Are children receiving this education prepared to compete when they are young? Are they prepared to do business? And then comes another big question: Who is responsible for the bad education? Who is to blame? And here I will allow myself to remind an interesting thought about the culpability that some employers had to compete. It is said that in a production center of goods with leather materials there was a widespread demand from leather manufacturers because the leather came with serious scratches or bruises. Sellers of leather as a raw material said that the fault lay with the workers of slaughterhouses or abattoirs because they were not careful when they quartered livestock and mistreated the leather to remove the body of livestock. The slaughterhouse workers said that the fault was not theirs, but carriers who in their trucks had a few tips that hurt and scratched the skin of
the cattle. In turn, carriers blamed the farmers, and they finally said that the fault lies with the cows, since when they were bitten by insects they scratched their bodies in the barbed wire. (Read “The cow was blamed”) Here some interesting seminars have been taught designed to “TEACHING TO LEARN”, which I think is very good, but… it is also important to teach intensive training courses to teachers to “LEARNING TO TEACH”. With all this, you will forgive my obsession, but I'm definitely convinced that the key to compete and for the ENTREPRENEURSHIP, is in a comprehensive education of our HUMAN RESOURCES (our people) that includes a change of attitudes, and if the education that we are providing does not yield the expected results, we must modify it, and there are several models to follow. One of them is the one proposed by David Goleman, researcher in educational psychology, who notes that the new concept of "intelligence" (beyond the traditional “rational” intelligence) puts emotions at the center of the skills to live, and that is why market forces, so fashionable today, award an unprecedented value to the "Emotional Intelligence" for success in all work. Along with these investigations, which bring up new educational concepts on "Intelligence," we should conclude that it becomes imperative to promote the creation of NEW MODELS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING, affirming self-discipline, curiosity to access to other levels of knowledge that enable a paradigm change to achieve new structures, new insights and find new alternatives. In short, new learning models which constitute management for enterprise and transformation. The XXI century pedagogy must be essentially affected, critical and creative. The most important should not be WHAT is taught, but HOW it is taught. Essentially it must lie not in WHAT you learn but how you learn. This means that priority should be given to the development or construction of knowledge through PROCESSES and not contents, there should be a continuity and NOT a fractionation of units of subjects or theoretical issues. This new pedagogical approach, which incidentally is a modern trend in the most advanced universities in the world, allows the teaching-learning process to be active, which contributes to better fix knowledge. But, as noted, education is ONE of the unmet social needs in our country, which, along with health, nutrition, sanitation, housing, provide the total social spending requirements. ►3) CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTUR Faced with the reality briefly described in this talk, I sincerely believe that all the Ecuadorian society should consider a permanent objective: to improve the coverage and levels of education, and LEGAL SECURITY to the CREATION AND PROTECTION OF JOBS. And to that end, the great challenges facing us in the future are: 1) Ensure that the state allocate MORE RESOURCES TO EDUCATION to meet the minimum required by the Constitution. 2) That the entire educational background of first, second and third level is COORDINATED WITH THE PRODUCTIVE SECTOR.
► "To recognize the errors and weaknesses of the past is an act of loyalty and courage which helps us to strengthen our faith, to face the temptations and challenges in the future." So, literally, Pope John Paul II said it. Just since 1998, some multilateral credit agencies like the World Bank or the Inter-American Development Bank, with timidity and fear, begin to refer weakly to "social investments" in education and health, rather than considering it as "spending." This is a language, a grammar, a terminology that we must strengthen, deepen and boost, with the conviction that any money, resources or effort set aside to pay the social debt is not, as previously believed, an ill-designed, a resource "cast on deaf ears," a "non-productive spending" but that it is an investment in "human development". And we must convince ourselves and convince others, that there can be no sustained economic growth, nor competitiveness, if we are not able to previously have a human and social sustained development. Let me share with you 2 personal experiences: The first one, when I was Minister of Labour in 1981, the oil exploration and exploitation in our country was in full development and the Ministry received many requests to hire foreign workers (mainly from Chile and Mexico) because in Ecuador there were no people having the expertise needed: “welders for oil pipelines”. We didn't have that kind of expertise, and they were very well paid. In the SECAP (Ecuadorian Professional Training Service) we had to create a professional training unit in that area, and I was greatly surprised when I visited this unit 2 years later: most students were women, and they were much more careful with the finished work, because they were perfectionist…and they did it well. The second experience is the one I live regularly in my current job as a legal company consultant. Many young graduates in various universities in the country visit me; some with master's and doctoral degrees from inside and outside the country, who submit folders and resumes to get them a job, and after I found out and tell them that there's NO vacancies or job available, some of them answer me something that depresses me: "Doctor, forget about my resume, my degrees and my titles, get me a job in whatever. Do you know what that means?? That they only aspire to be EMPLOYEES, DEPENDENTS, SUBORDINATES of a company or other person who has created jobs. And why did they study? Why do they have a specialization? Why are they trained? The message that I want to transmit to you, if you allow me, is that we must educate children and youth; we should train all people we can, so that each one is able TO CREATE sources of production and work with initiative and imagination, studying the needs of the community, analyzing the possible “niches” that can develop a new sustainable business; exploring possibilities of production, distribution and sales, and costs; and seeking funding to make this possible. To do it, an analysis and selection of HUMAN RESOURCES should be done: that is, to the people with whom a new business, a new source of production, an employment generating activity, can be carry forward. All in all, my dear friends, we are talking about what the title of this talk is: HUMAN RESOURCES and ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Thank you for your patience!
SAN SALVADOR, A MANAGEMENT MODEL TO SERVE THE PEOPLE Dr. Norman Quijano Mayor of San Salvador
San Salvador is a booming city, it could not be otherwise since it is the heart of El Salvador, nevertheless, like other capitals of our region, it faces a number of problems in which every day, from the local government, we give our best effort to answer them and generate in this way better living conditions to the citizens. Any person who visits San Salvador for the first time, could hardly imagine the reality of the city just over three years ago, when we assumed our first administration. Even less, I would find a logical explanation to this turn that the capital has had since then, until having the face that today, with pride, we show to the world. But we do have that answer: the service to the people and the attention to their problems, especially of those most in need. Day after day we care about them staying faithfully to it. To understand the extent of the changes that we have made in San Salvador, I take the liberty to present you a brief analysis of the institution that we found. In the City Hall prevails the philosophy of a political party than that of a service to the public and that was seen even in the installations of the commune, in which red was the official color; the offices were dominated by posters of leftist leaders and many employees were political activists. Handling the institution as a hunting party of the FMLN, rather than work and fulfill the responsibilities of a local government, gave rise so that for over 12 years of leftist administration, several anomalies were added. Upon receiving the administration, we found many rigged contracts and all kinds of loopholes, damaging the local heritage.
The lack of technical capacity droved the institution to gradually sink into a critical financial situation with a high debt to banks and suppliers, as well as around twenty mortgaged properties and a number of projects undertaken in the communities, but with no funds for execution. Moreover, the trade unions, which are still used as a partisan politics tool in our country, threatening to paralyze the organization because of the difficulty of our government to comply with certain benefits, which were approved at the last minute by the outgoing administration. And although the unions demanded, we encountered a low yield from the municipal worker, caused in part by the lack of mysticism and understanding of the public worker. These institutional problems were reflected in the city and the invasion of the informal trade was visible, particularly in the heart of the capital. In addition to the disorder that prevailed in the public space, the citizen was traveling in the middle of the abandonment of overpasses, major paths, squares and parks, which also had become points of assault and which were no longer spaces for family living. In summary, we have received a dirty city, with their communities, neighborhoods and abandoned colonies; the citizen of the capital had lost the pride of living in San Salvador and much had to do the work in a City Hall which had lost its credibility and authority as local government. That scenario had all the conditions to discourage anyone who did not have a clear vision and a clearly defined route, but we knew that our mission was to work, serve and not complain, what
made us establish in a short time the difference not only before the previous administrations in San Salvador, but faced to the surrounding municipalities that were still governed by the left. The management model that we implemented and that is now the basis of work in the country's municipalities, whose officials are committed to the citizens, is summarized in five points:
We work for the people Our work is done with transparency and efficiency We form real teams The municipal leaders and thus the institution has a local leadership A vision of the city or municipality where the population is happy to live.
That was the road map that we established in the Municipality of San Salvador and that guided the work day to day to fulfill all commitments. Since May 1, 2009, our employees and citizens could see that a new administration had come to the local government, we cleaned up all party symbols of all the facilities of the institution, we changed the colors red by the institutional color; in the streets we began to see gardeners and workers of the municipality recovering the public spaces. That was the main sign that the City Hall was to the service of the people, not to satisfy political interests nor power groups. Of course, that idea had to be reflected in the municipal work. People expected that their problems will be solved and that's what we have started to do. I must admit that this work was limited during the first few months due to the difficult financial situation in which we receive the institution, even do, we started to get to the humblest community of the municipality and here it is prudent to recognize that this effort would not have been possible without the commitment with which the municipal employee took the vision and mission that we had, adding them to the team work with the knowledge that their function was to serve the citizens. We showed that with a responsible administration of the resources much can be done, and once we solved the financial problems of the commune, using a novel instrument for our country as it is securitization, our presence in the communities was increased. As a result of the efficient use of resources at the end of the first three years of management, we had invested more than $ 20 million in public works and social programs of great benefit to the population, compared with just over six million dollars of the previous administration. Among these initiatives we can highlight the service we provide through the Municipal Social Responsibility Program, through which the City Hall busses do tours of the various medical and rehabilitation centers, transporting at no cost the elderly people and pregnant women; we built and launched the Municipal Mortuary; we made a recovery of emblematic squares and parks of the city; but more importantly, we go into different communities to different infrastructure works such as bridges, embankments, retaining walls, gates, among others, that improved the living conditions of neighbors and reduced the vulnerability of population centers. On the other hand, we kept for three years medical conferences, delivery of solidary packages – containing first aid products – stables-sheets and fumigation in the city, anyway. I want to say that all this would not have been possible without the support of a team of highly technical skills, experts in their field and with a high human quality. They say that a good leader knows how to surround himself with professionals who meet the highest possible capacity, with a great spirit of service and dedication to work; to these executive team I should add to more than four thousand municipal employees who have been imbued with the idea that they are public workers and that their mission is to serve the taxpayer and respond to the needs of the citizens of the capital.
As far as we conducted our work in the local government, we were building trust in businessmen, religious leaders, schools that gradually were added to the effort of building a better city. As examples of such actions, we could recover squares like El Salvador del Mundo, the most emblematic of the capital, Beethoven sources, Paseo de la Independencia, among others, which today are examples of this ability of mayors who host this management model for binding efforts and exercise leadership in their municipality.
Not only that, the Solidarity Assistance Program that benefits every week hundreds of families, had a strong contribution of entrepreneurs who are convinced that what they donate through food, building materials, medicines, reach those who need it most, and this has been achieved thanks to our administration that is close to the people, especially of the most vulnerable and we care to find with them the best solutions to the problems of the municipality. When we assumed the local government, three years ago, the chaos in the institution and the dirty environment prevailing in the city, also had a negative effect on the municipality residents; we have been one of the few capitals in which the population has been decreasing over the years. Over time, the citizen has begun to regain confidence in the institution as well as to identify with San Salvador and as an example are the various initiatives led by the communities themselves that have been involved in solving their problems, and that little by little lead us to build this dynamic and thriving capital, that today we want it to be the best capital of Central America. Our mission is clear, the Municipality of San Salvador and now, those which are governed by Councilmen Leaders committed with the people, work to build municipalities where every day problems are solved and families improve their living conditions after their own interests be developed taking advantage of the tools that we deliver to them. The challenge we had to get to the local government on May 1, 2009, was to convince the people of the capital that our problems do have a solution, we did it; today we aspire to something else and we are confident that San Salvador is a city with a future, and very promising having the public support. This is the management model we are implementing in our capital, is the same plan that is being implemented in other municipalities where citizens gave the vote of confidence to this project, that every day we strive to build and carry out .