This chapter examines public activities that have a bearing on the Colombian innovation system. It begins with an examination of governance arrangements. It then charts the historical evolution of science, technology and innovation policy in Colombia and of attempts to influence the structure of production (in the longer term). The chapter then reviews a range of innovation policy tasks that appear pressing in light of the specific challenges faced by Colombia. It concludes with a summary note on government institutions.
This chapter looks at i) the organisation of the school network, including private school provision; ii) school governance, leadership and community participation; and iii) the organisation of teaching and learning in Colombia. This includes flexible school models, ethnic and special needs education, learning standards, instruction time, educational materials and evaluation. Transitions between school education and other levels and programmes, such as early childhood education provided by the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare and vocational training provided by the National Learning Service are also considered. The chapter analyses strengths and challenges with a particular focus on access to a good education in rural areas. Finally, recommendations are presented, highlighting the need to improve school clusters, transport and boarding while strengthening school leadership and collaboration between schools.
Chapter 6 describes the management and rationalisation practices that the Government of Colombia applies on existing regulations, particularly a centralised registry for formalities and services and different simplification initiatives to streamline specific economic processes, such as the Business Support Centres, the one-stop shops for property registration and foreign trade, Competitive Regulation, and the Group on rationalisation and automatisation of formalities. It also explains the need for a baseline measurement of administrative burdens and the use of other simplification tools, such as the silence is consent rule. Finally, it provides recommendations to improve the management of the regulatory stock and focus current simplification initiatives.
This chapter summarises the OECD Economic Survey of Colombia. It sets out the macroeconomic context for the review, including recent macroeconomic trends, the contribution of regulatory reform to economic performance, and the remaining challenges for the Colombian economy, notably in terms of boosting labour productivity, adjusting to the commodity boom, and reducing income inequality. Prudent macroeconomic management has helped Colombia weather the recent financial crisis remarkably well, but the remaining challenges call for structural reform in both product and labour markets. Colombia’s regulatory simplification efforts have led to significant improvements in the quality of the business environment and a more solid foundation for private sector development. This chapter argues that these efforts need now to translate into initiatives to improve regulatory quality more generally.
The COVID-19 crisis has had a profound impact on SME access to finance. In particular, the sudden drop in revenues created acute liquidity shortages, threatening the survival of many viable businesses. The report documents an increase in demand for bank lending in the first half of 2020, and a steady supply of credit thanks to government interventions. On the other hand, other sources of finance declined, in particular early-stage equity.
This paper, a special edition of Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs, focuses on the impacts of COVID-19 on SME access to finance, along with government policy responses. It reveals that the pre-crisis financing environment was broadly favourable for SMEs and entrepreneurs, who benefited from low interest rates, loose credit standards and an increasingly diverse offer of financing instruments.
It documents the unprecedented scope and scale of the policy responses undertaken by governments world-wide, and details their key characteristics, and outlines the principal issues and policy challenges for the next phases of the pandemic, such as the over-indebtedness of SMEs and the need to continue to foster a diverse range of financing instruments for SMEs.
Good governance is a building block for the performance of regulators, including civil aviation authorities. This paper reports the results of a mapping of governance arrangements across 29 civil aviation authorities in Latin American and Caribbean countries, with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s South American and North American, Central American and Caribbean regions.
Applying the methodology of the OECD Indicators on the Governance of Sector Regulators, the results provide a birds-eye view of the independence, accountability and scope of action of participating authorities. This paper explains the indicator methodology, summarises key data points, and presents high-level take aways.
This chapter analyses how the school system is funded in Colombia. It presents a description of the level of expenditure on education, the sources of funding, and the specific funding mechanisms, including the Sistema General de Participaciones. While focusing on school education, the distribution of funding across different levels is also considered, including for early childhood education and care and tertiary education. The chapter analyses strengths and challenges with a particular focus on the extent to which the current funding approach helps address inequities between territories, schools and students. Finally, recommendations are presented, highlighting the need to reconcile the allocation of resources with set objectives, the need for a gradual approach in policy, and the importance of investing in greater local capacity.