Since its establishment in 1962, the Institute has constantly strengthened its presence in the region and has emerged as a valuable regional asset. Delivering on its unwavering commitment to service provision, it has consistently pursued a wide range of activities, notably support for governments in building and enhancing institutional structures for long-term economic and social development. This cooperation has taken different forms, in response to changing realities and to government requests at the central, regional and global levels.
To give an idea of the scale of the Institute’s efforts: more than 20,000 students have graduated from its many and varied training courses. ILPES has also carried out technical cooperation activities in almost all of the countries in the region. For more than five decades, ILPES has aided the region in building States’ development capacities, adapting to countries’ priorities, responding to their emerging demands, and providing a forum for learning, reflection, analysis and proposals in relation to development issues. Its technical cooperation activities have benefited the entire region, underpinned by a sustained effort in reflection and research that is expressed in more than 2,500 texts, methodological manuals and technical documents. More than 60 books have been published, many running to dozens of editions, along with approximately 1,000 articles and working documents, which have been widely disseminated.
Today, ILPES is calling for reflection and debate on its mission and its working relationship with its member countries, which must respond to changes and to the renewed importance of development planning in Latin America and the Caribbean. The key areas of modern planning are priorities on the national agendas of the region’s governments; these include coordination between different scales, levels and sectors of governments; monitoring and evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of public administration; the territorial dimension of government plans; public-private coordination and forecasting, or building a concerted long-term vision.