20th November 2012
Our work in Mexico, nominated for the UK Civil Service Awards
The following is a guest blog by Monica Buitron, Programme Director at the British Embassy Mexico City.
I have been invited to write about my team’s nomination for the Programme Team Civil Service Award 2012. I will begin to do so by mentioning how greatly honoured and proud this has made us feel.
The Civil Service Awards celebrate and promote innovation and improvement across government, and attract upwards of 800 nominations every year.
My team has been nominated for The Project, Programme and Portfolio Management Award, an award recognising good practice in project, programme and portfolio management, open to any team or individual that can demonstrate best practice application of expert project management skills and techniques and evidence of systematic oversight of the project/programme that lead to clear appreciation of the customer environment.
Mexico is paving the way to improve its global position in terms of foreign investment through a continuous effort to impulse competition and transparency both in the federal and local sectors.
The current £1.7m -and the £1.9m from last financial year- programme cover Climate Change, Energy and Economic Reform Projects, all topics the British Government considers critical in the pathway towards low carbon economies. We’ve had notable successes in each strand that have helped us sustain our nomination for this award. To name a few I mention the following ones:
Our support was instrumental in getting Mexico’s General Law on Climate Change passed. We are currently working with 200 (out of approx 2000) municipalities to build capacity to plan actions to mitigate climate change.
We assisted the development of seed capital and innovation funding in Mexico through knowledge sharing from UK in these topics. The Mexican Government Federal Authorities have designated £23m initiative funding in this area based on our project’s outcomes – which we hope will also provide new and exciting opportunities for British Business as the Mexican economy benefits from a focus on innovation.
Our input into framework regulations for the Green Mortgage initiatives in Mexico is being developed into a new Housing NAMA which we hope to see come into operation in 2013. Mexico’s wider work in this area has also been recognised by a UN Habitat Award.
The British Embassy Programme Team in Mexico City is identified as a partner that has been able to facilitate critical targets and enable capacity in the Mexican Government.
Our success formula is complemented by the professionalism and commitment we have had from the various organizations, NGO, government, think thanks and academia that help us deliver our project work. They are without a doubt a key success factor in materializing the transformational change we aim our projects to have.
The Civil Service Award Ceremony will take place in London on November 22, 2012. For us our nomination has come as recognition for hard work, and most of all team work. I am a proud leader of professionals who have helped transform good ideas into good projects. I hope we win and promise to come back with the news. My team and I are already living a once in a life time experience!