From Fear to Hope in Colombia: Sergio Fajardo and Medellín, 2004-2007
Focus: City Management, Getting the News Out/Managing Expectations, Containing Patronage Pressures, Civil Service
Topics: Overcoming corruption, Building citizen support, Making services accessible, Organizing a municipal center of government, Extending services to insecure or remote areas, Corruption in the Civil Service, Performance Management System
Type: Case Studies
Author: Matthew Devlin, Sebastian Chaskel
Keywords: Medellín, service delivery, corruption, municipal reform, city reform, Colombia
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Abstract
Este estudio de caso, Del Miedo a la Esperanza en Colombia: Sergio Fajardo y Medellín, 2004 - 2007, se encuentra en español aquí (PDF).
Inaugurated as mayor of Medellín at the beginning of 2004, Sergio Fajardo inherited a city roiled by decades of violence and corruption. During his four years in office, the charismatic former university professor turned Medellín around. He broke up clientelistic political networks, raised tax receipts, improved public services, introduced transparency fairs, established civic pacts, and restored citizens’ sense of hope. Fajardo left office at the end of 2007 with an unprecedented approval rating of nearly 90%. Though Medellín still faced significant challenges, the city was later identified as an exemplary case of good public administration by cities across Latin America and the Inter-American Development Bank. By 2010, Fajardo had been named the vice-presidential running mate of former Bogotá mayor Antanas Mockus in that year’s presidential elections.
