The Government created an Undersecretary of Resilience Argentina: who will be in charge and what will be its functions

In the midst of the discussion about a possible adjustment of public spending following the new agreement reached with the International Monetary Fund - the final sanction of the Senate is missing - the national government decided to enlarge the State through the creation of the Special Temporary Execution Unit Resilience Argentina. As they explained in a resolution published in the Official Gazette on Monday, March 14, the new undersecretary will be headed by Fernando Melillo, former leader linked to Elisa Carrió who presided over the Buenos Aires Ari Civic Coalition.

This agency, with the rank of Undersecretary, will be in office for two years to comply with the Permanent Complementary Law on the Budget, which gave the Executive Power the power to create Temporary Special Executing Units “to manage plans, programs and projects of a temporary and exceptional nature, being able to determine the appropriate structure, functioning and allocation of human resources”.

The origin of this new position is the “Resiliar Program”, created on May 13, 2021 under the Head of Ministers, led by Juan Manzur, “with the aim of achieving community resilience in the different areas of the National State, in its links with civil society and its organizations”.

According to what is stated in the Official Gazette, the objectives of the Argentine Resilience Unit will be:

— Promote the incorporation of the community resilience approach in the different areas of the National State and its links with civil society and its organizations.

— Articulate with the different areas that make up the National Public Administration, Provincial States, Municipalities, the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and with civil society organizations for the design and implementation of dissemination and strengthening actions that incorporate a critical, social and community approach of resilience.

— Provide technical assistance to the various agencies of the State, provinces, municipalities and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires for the consideration and incorporation of the community resilience approach, as well as recommendations emanating from international organizations based on the concept of community resilience, in the design and implementation of various sectoral public policies.

— Generate a virtual library that allows the reception, systematization, availability and circulation of experiences and theoretical-practical developments on resilience from the public, private, non-governmental, national and international spheres.

Article 6 also states that the Unit “shall be dissolved within two (2) years after the entry into force of this resolution or once the purpose for which it was created has been fulfilled if it is carried out beforehand” and article 7 clarifies that “the expense of compliance with this measure will be met by current appropriations of the Head of Cabinet of Ministers”.

As an argument for creating this new entity with the rank of Undersecretary, the resolution also refers to the “globally catastrophic and subjectively traumatic” impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on society: “It aggravated all the indicators of the economic, social, health and educational crisis that previously affected our country and broad sectors of the population”.

He adds: “Several international organizations point to the opportunity and relevance of incorporating the Resilience approach in order to strengthen State initiatives and improve their results, together with the different affected population and social groups and their organizations.”

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