Public Service Innovators -- Claudio Orrego (MPP '95): Transforming Chile's Public Sector

Located in the heart of Santiago, the office of Claudio Orrego (MPP '95) overlooks the Alameda, the grand thoroughfare of Chile's capital. On his desk are photos of his wife and three children, his father, and a shot from Orrego's swearing-in ceremony as Chile's Minister of Public Housing and Public Properties. It's a heady vista for a 33 year-old, but Orrego doesn't spend much time admiring the view.

"At the moment in Chile, we're in the midst of a radical transformation in the public sector," Orrego asserts. "Our task is not just to administer what was already in place. We need to reform our management style in order to improve our services and the effectiveness of our policies."

Technology, Orrego notes, plays a significant role in this process. One of his primary initiatives since taking office has been to update decades-old computer systems. "We've just launched a Web site that will allow people to apply on-line for housing subsidies and check the process of their application," says Orrego, adding that bids on government goods and services will be posted online in 2001. "It will heighten citizen awareness that democracy goes beyond voting," he explains. "The most important part is to hold government accountable."

Orrego has also headed Chile's Modernization Committee, another technology-oriented effort to make information more accessible-an admittedly difficult goal in a country where home computers are still relatively scarce. In 1999 Orrego established the nonprofit organization "El Encuentro," or "The Meeting" in a neighborhood in Peñalolén, one of Santiago's poorest boroughs. Staffed by two employees and a handful of teenage volunteers, El Encuentro provides local citizens with access to their own public radio station, a micro-business assistance center, and a network of twenty computer terminals with Internet access.

"The distribution of income is very unequal in this country," Orrego says. Chile, he notes, has enjoyed steady economic growth for the past ten years, and the private sector-once the government's most vocal critic-must recognize that investing resources in organizations such as El Encuentro and initiating its own programs is essential for continued stability. "Real, sustainable growth will come primarily through investment in education for everyone," Orrego remarks, "regardless of their income or social origin."

Orrego credits his commitment to public service to the influence of his father, a highly esteemed Member of Parliament until the 1973 military coup. "He was very much involved in the effort to regain democracy," remembers Orrego. "Unfortunately he never saw the results of that fight."

His values, however, left a lasting impression. "Anyone who holds a position in government should think that is the most important job they could ever have," Orrego says. "Whatever your position, you have to make time at least once a week to visit the communities you hope to serve."

Top Photo: Claudio Orrego
Bottom Photo: Claudio Orrego on site