c) The stability of government employment and its One of these benchmarks is merit as a mechanism to ensure state protection from arbitrary dismissal, without detriment to the efficiency, but also protection from arbitrariness, state capture duration that is set, whether indefinite or temporary. by patronage, or politics. Another is the operational capacity of the systems, that is, their capacity to exert a positive impact on the conduct of government employees, directly related to d) Flexibility in organizing and administering government professional qualifications and performance incentives, including employment, which is necessary to adapt, with the ethical conduct and the system’s flexibility. greatest efficiency possible, to the transformations in the environment and the changing needs of society. A decade later, the situation of civil service showed progress achieved in regulatory frameworks pertaining to next-generation reforms, the mainstreaming of competitive merit-based e) The accountability of government employees for the procurement systems, and professional development and work they perform and the results of their work, as well as executive management initiatives. respect for and involvement in the development of public policies set by governments. It is very useful to examine closely the main findings stemming from the application of IDB’s analytical framework for institutional assessment as it allows an overview of the general situation f) Compliance, by all staff included within the scope of their in 2012, reflecting variables that are still prevailing today. The enforcement, with all ethical principles for civil service, situation in the region could be summarized as follows: namely, honesty, transparency, and conscientiousness in the management of public resources and the application of constitutional principles and values. • Human resources planning is especially weak in most of the region’s countries, except for Brazil and Chile. Progress achieved stems from budget-based planning g) Leadership from senior public officials and ownership of efforts. their role as those principally responsible for managing the persons under their supervision. • Organization of the work is not well developed. The design of structures and job descriptions are highly deficient in most of the region’s countries. In Argentina, h) Promotion of communication, participation, dialogue, Chile, Mexico, and Brazil, management of posts is transaction, and consensus for the general benefit of being supplemented by the introduction of skills-based the public, such as instruments of coordination between management. government employers and their staff, in order to achieve a more conducive working environment and a greater • As for the management of government employment, alignment between the objectives of the organizations and it is noteworthy for its differentiation of recruitment the interests and expectations of their staff. and appointment procedures, as well as advancement processes, which range from extreme political interference and attempts to develop merit-based i) The promotion of active policies favoring gender equality, systems that are difficult to implement to certain sound the protection and mainstreaming of minorities, and, in merit-based systems with elements of flexibility. The general, inclusion and nondiscrimination for reasons of mainstreaming of merit has been mostly developed gender, social origin, ethnic belonging, disability, or other as a statutory framework, but in almost all countries causes. attempts to implement it have encountered diverse levels of success. Among the latter, Brazil is noteworthy These benchmarks for reform led to a series of policies and draft for having achieved more than other countries: it shows bills of law in Latin American countries, with varying degrees the use of open recruitment based on suitability of staff, of progress. This impetus coincided with several aspects of guarantees against arbitrariness, skills-based selection, key elements of international anti-corruption commitments in mechanisms for staff advancement, and dismissal for civil service or government employment (which for the present failure to perform devoid of arbitrariness. purpose are viewed as synonymous). Cultivating a culture of integrity in the civil service in times of crisis 17