Improving public management through territorial governance. Lessons learned from COVID-19

Collaborative territorial governance experiences play a fundamental role in improving public management to mitigate health and the economic crisis impacts due to COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Interior (SEGOB, in Spanish) of the Mexican federal government implemented the methodology Neighborhoods Networks for Solidarity Support “Redes Vecinales de Apoyo Solidario” (REVES, in Spanish). It is a territorial organization system based on community co-responsibility that aims to improve the satisfaction of basic needs derived from the health and economic emergency caused by COVID-19, and is an example for municipalities throughout Mexico. REDES implies a collaborative territorial governance system. In this article we describe and analyze the actions carried out by seven municipalities that are executing the project. Keywords: territorial and collaborative governance, networks, public management, municipality

Local governance processes: An analysis of the Regional Governance and Social Coordination Observatory Regarding COVID-19 in Yucatan, Mexico

Public and social actions amid COVID-19 involve complex governance challenges –processes through which political and social participants seek to coordinate alternatives and make decisions in a critical or uncertain scenario–. This essay analyzes the Regional Governance and Social Coordination Observatory to contest COVID-19 in Yucatan, Mexico. The Observatory established a local governance model to analyze the experiences in which heterogeneous actors organize and cooperate to address the problems from the pandemic. We aim to demonstrate that this model is capable of examining and characterizing these initiatives, and discuss its potential as a tool to improve local governance processes. Keywords: local governance, social observatory, pandemic, COVID-19, Yucatan.