Daniela de la Puente
Daniela de la Puente joined the MPA Program as an international student from Peru. While earning her MPA, she interned at the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Permanent Mission of Peru to the United Nations. She currently works as a consultant for the Innóvate Perú program at the Ministry of Production and teaches Cultural Policy at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. In addition to her MPA degree from CCNY, she holds a Master's Degree in Cultural Management from the University of Barcelona. She has almost a decade of experience in the management of cultural programs, including experience as a project coordinator in Peru’s Ministry of Culture.
Social innovation – creating new paths to social change – is a big part of your current job. Please tell me about your work.
I am working at Innóvate Perú, a national program under the Ministry of Production (former Ministry of Industry) that seeks to increase the competitiveness and productivity of businesses by fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. The program started more than 10 years ago as a fund granted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) to insert and consolidate innovation in the Peruvian public agenda. The IADB is still a key supporter of the program.
And how does the program promote innovation?
What the program mainly does is co-finance innovation projects and ventures from all economic sectors. Although mostly focused in tech and business innovation, Innóvate Perú also finances projects that seek innovative solutions to social issues. By the end of this year, the program will become a National Innovation Agency, so we expect that the new structure will allow us to deepen our work in different areas, such as social and environmental innovation.
What is the social innovation culture like in Peru? To what extent does it resemble the social innovation culture in the US?
Social innovation is about creating new or better ways to address social and environmental problems in a specific territory. These problems are very similar worldwide: how to expand access to health and education services? How can we improve them? What new initiatives can be developed to promote gender equality? How to address environmental issues in more creative and effective ways? For example, innovative projects linked to the circular economy are really interesting and they’ve demonstrated a great impact in reducing garbage and pollution worldwide.
You mention innovation projects to solve social and environmental challenges. What other challenges can innovation help to solve?
I am particularly interested in democratic innovation. More and more governments are implementing participatory mechanisms to address social and environmental issues by involving different actors: academia, entrepreneurs, companies, and citizens. In Latin America, Chile is a referent in carrying out these processes in specific communities though digital platforms and innovation boot camps. Unfortunately, in Peru, the disconnection between government, academia and society is still predominant, and there is a greater commitment to social innovation from NGOs and grassroots movements than from the public sector. Yet, in recent years, some Peruvian ministries have created innovation labs to work on their public policies and programs. And they are doing a very interesting job.
Could you give an example of a creative initiative undertaken to solve social issues in Peru?
I think that the innovation projects that have impressed me the most are related to public health. For example, chronic anemia in children is a severe public health issue in Peru. It can reach 66% in some regions. Aware of its impact on health and school performance, a businesswoman created a milk chocolate fortified with heme iron. After years of research and improvement, we now have a chocolate made from Peruvian cacao that helps to tackle childhood anemia. It has a great flavor and it doesn’t cause stomach problems. What could be a better incentive for a child than to receive a chocolate 2 or 3 times a day to reduce anemia?
What has been the most meaningful and inspiring project you’ve been involved in?
At present, I am in charge of a project that seeks to promote a culture of innovation in Peruvian enterprises by using behavioral economics. I learned of this approach during the MPA Program in the Economics and Capstone courses. Being in charge of this project is very motivating to me, not only because it allows me to put into practice what I’ve learned – and believe in – but also because behavioral economics and public policy is a field that has been demonstrated to have had a great impact worldwide, but it is little developed in my country.
How did you apply what you learned in the MPA program to your work in your country?
After reviewing some literature on the subject, I noticed that many of the factors preventing innovation in the country were related to companies’ knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes toward it: excessive fear of economic risks, intolerance of failure, and inability to foresee future benefits, among others. These mental barriers influence the behavior of companies when it comes time to decide whether to invest in innovation activities or not. All of this made me think that behavioral economics could be very useful in both the diagnosis of the problem and the design of behavioral-based interventions to address the problem. I explained the methodology to my superiors, and they agreed to try it. I think the latter was critical, because there are still a lot of skeptical people thinking that these approaches are strange or too disruptive for the public sector. But, just like the iron-fortified chocolate, we need to think about public policy and administration differently, finding innovative ways of doing things and engaging people in a closer and more effective way.
What skills or capabilities have you found are most important to succeed in public administration?
I would say resilience. Much of the work in the public sector is still quite heavy and slow. The time one spends on making sure that a project complies with all administrative procedures and obtains all approvals to finally see the light is often greater than the time you spent in designing it. Personal or political interests often prevail over the common good, and norms or programs that you knew had the potential of generating real changes never come true. This is, of course, overwhelming and frustrating because people are expecting things and targeted populations in real need are waiting for programs and services that can improve their lives. But real changes didn’t arise overnight, so one should overcome the “white elephant” every day, trying to keep a positive attitude, while cultivating a critical and flexible way of thinking.
As an international student in New York City, what was the most memorable part of your experience? What surprised you?
I remember that a few days after the 2016 election, when I was leaving the 145th Street station on my way to class, I noticed that CCNY students and people from the area had written several messages to support immigrants: "This is my home; this is our home", "You are always welcome". Such small interventions made me feel happier and more conscious of what was going on. I think this constant vigilance, commitment and action on national political issues by CCNY students and teachers is one of the things that most inspired me. There was always time during class to discuss what was going on in the political arena; there was plenty of energy and conviction to organize all the necessary marches to express disagreement, peacefully but energetically. Another thing that impressed me was the diversity. One thing is to know that NYC is one of the most multicultural cities worldwide; another one is to live in it. CCNY is a microcosm of the variety of cultures and perspectives coexisting in the world. Being part of such an intercultural learning environment was an invaluable experience for me.
After graduation, what made you want to return home and make an impact in Peru?
I came to the MPA through a program of the Peruvian government called Reto Excelencia. It seeks to improve the quality of public services by giving public servants all the resources needed to carry out graduate programs in areas related to public policy and administration. Although it is not mandatory to return to the country, it is expected that the program’s beneficiaries replicate what they have learned abroad when they return to Peru. I am motivated to contribute to tackling the many challenges faced by my country.
Please share any final thoughts.
Let's try to find different ways of thinking about and exercising public administration. Governments are often too focused on the day to day bureaucracy to think “outside of the box”. By encouraging a culture of innovation, we can really change the course of many things and create solutions with a greater impact. Solutions are better if they come up from different perspectives and backgrounds. In this sense, innovation can become a meeting point between governments and society to find more effective and legitimate ways to address people’s needs and expectations.
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