MiBuenosAires 2.0: Innovating Communications in a Municipal Government

Since the beginning of Mayor Mauricio Macri’s first term in 2007, the municipal government of Buenos Aires, Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (GCBA) has undergone several operational changes through reforms aimed at improving organizational transparency and efficiency. A new Ministry of Modernization was established last year with the goal of improving public administration by creating simplified, efficient and transparent processes for municipal governance, representing a significant step in GCBA’s progress towards achieving these greater ambitions.

To assist the Ministry of Modernization in achieving its goals, a team of students worked with the Ministry and its staff to evaluate its current system of internal communication and recommend a communications strategy for 2012‐15. The team traveled to Buenos Aires in March 2012 to conduct field interviews with officials in the Ministry of Modernization. The team also conducted a desk review of best practices and benchmarking analysis of city governments who are considered innovative leaders in the area of internal communication systems – namely, New York City and Barcelona. The SIPA team discovered a wealth of potential for an online portal to serve as a key channel for communication between GCBA and city employees, help forge better employee relations and build a progressive work environment. To achieve these ends, GCBA must initiate a consolidation of its online presence, which currently exists in a disjointed state of multiple online initiatives targeted for city employees. Most importantly Mi Buenos Aires and B.A. Con Vos websites, need to be replaced by a unified Mi Buenos Aires web portal that can cater to a wide range of professional and personal needs of city employees.