Cómo resolver problemas públicos: Una guía práctica para arreglar el gobierno y cambiar el mundo

by Beth Simone Noveck, Águeda Quiroga (Translator)

El auge de las redes sociales y la presencia constante en línea está cambiando la naturaleza del compromiso cívico y la participación política en los sectores más jóvenes de la población. Los principales desafíos a los que, hoy en día, se enfrentan las sociedades -desde la desigualdad y el racismo sistémico hasta el cambio climático-, no pueden resolverse con el conjunto de herramientas de antaño. Cómo resolver problemas públicos de Beth Simone Noveck nos enseña cómo debemos aprovechar la tecnología digital, los datos y el conocimiento colectivo de nuestras comunidades para diseñar soluciones a los problemas contemporáneos. A menudo se produce una brecha entre la idea y la implementación, pero «tenemos en nuestras manos las herramientas necesarias para resolver los problemas más graves de nuestra democracia», señala Noveck. Después de años de estudio e investigación, asesoramiento a líderes internacionales, entrevistas y encuestas de miles de solucionadores de problemas públicos, Beth Simone Noveck nos proporciona una magnífica guía práctica para servidores públicos, líderes comunitarios, estudiantes y activistas con el fin de poder abordar con mayor eficacia y equidad los problemas de nuestro atribulado mundo del siglo XXI.

Genres: Nonfiction, Economics

608 pages, Paperback

Published November 2, 2022

Reviews

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I resonate with this book more because I work closely with communities to implement projects that directly benefit them and it's such a powerful read because it highlights the social challenges, policies and laws that affect them and how it's not just one institution to change, but a whole system.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

[Nix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beth Simone Noveck's book addresses the challenges of public sector delivery and problem solving; how the public sector mentality needs to change to be ready to solve the challenges the society is facing now which are very different from 20 years ago. There are pockets of this 'new' approach to delivering public services, but it definitely needs to be more wide spread.

As Noveck states: "We cannot expect to tackle tomorrow’s problems with yesterday’s toolkit."

Noveck sets out the challenges in a clear and concise way, and also presents approaches on how to make the public sector more agile, more problem focused and more welcoming to input from those living in the 'real' world that public sector policy teams are creating policies for.

Noveck points out that to succeed policy teams must spend time to understand the problem, to define it properly, BEFORE starting to find solutions, rather than jump straight in to solve it. The risk of a 'quick approach' is that a solution is created for a problem that never even existed. Involving the general public is critical for success. In its simplest form, this can be done by an online survey and there are lots of cheap (or even free) tools available online.

Thank you for an immensely inspirational and easily accessible book on this new way of working for the public sector; in many cases the private sector is already using this approach. I wish that this book, or the course mentioned above, were made mandatory for our civil servants / public sector workers in the United States, United Kingdom and beyond.

[Virág · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I lived in Hungary and left the country exactly because I stopped believing the government was interested in solving public problems.
I picked this book up because I started thinking about how unhappy in my job I was and I am thinking about how to actually achieve change. This was the perfect read, the language is easy understandable while it explores complex topics. The structure is great, can be followed easily.
I wish there would be "key points" sections at the end of the chapters next to the to dos, as there are points I know I'll want to reference and it would be easier.
There are points though which made me uncomfortable, for example when they talked about collecting data without the people's knowledge.
All in all it is amazing handbook, it made understanding and thinking about important but complex topics.

[Virág · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I lived in Hungary and left the country exactly because I stopped believing the government was interested in solving public problems.
I picked this book up because I started thinking about how unhappy in my job I was and I am thinking about how to actually achieve change. This was the perfect read, the language is easy understandable while it explores complex topics. The structure is great, can be followed easily.
I wish there would be "key points" sections at the end of the chapters next to the to dos, as there are points I know I'll want to reference and it would be easier.
There are points though which made me uncomfortable, for example when they talked about collecting data without the people's knowledge.
All in all it is amazing handbook, it made understanding and thinking about important but complex topics.

[Cherlene Tay · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in all, I think this was a very good toolkit. Some of the tools or frameworks might not be new to people already exposed to civic tech, but I think it’s a good holistic summary for people like me who need more guidance about how to go about whatever vision they might have about public problem solving! I also appreciate that all of the key points and tools are summarized on their website with actionable templates, hence making this a practical book for learning. Some sections were out of my area of interest / capacity to make change in, but it shows how everything is interconnected in this system of making change.