Good governance in times of COVID-19, building governance in the province of Carchi-Ecuador

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic deepened the crisis of public institutions, already weakened as a consequence of their incapacity and product of a multifactorial situation. Such a context, allowed our qualitative research to reveal aspects related to the practice of governance regarding the management of the health emergency. Through semi-structured interviews with eight key informants of provincial institutions, we investigated to what extent these stakeholders –who by law belong to the Emergency Operations Committee– were considered active subjects of the emergency management process in its early stages, and involved in the issues related to the attention and management of the crisis. Likewise, we consulted the perspectives regarding the post-covid scenario. The results show that the dynamics of the emergency did not allow the effective incorporation of all the social actors in the Emergency Operations Committees considered in the Ecuadorian legislation. Our research provides recommendations aimed to mitigate the economic effects of the health crisis, and lead to the economic reactivation of the province based on the governance paradigm.