Research Center on Public Policy and Local Governance

Public policies are fundamental to state action are the main means of intervention of the government and allow to note the concerns of the community, diagnose problems seeking efficient solutions to them.
Given the extent of government intervention in society, economy and world affairs makes the study of public policies essential for a citizen who is conscious, critical and reflective. Likewise, the amount of government spending at all levels makes this issue very important.

As contributors, we must have a share in effective public policies and the overall scope of government in our lives. We consume a vast and varied package of public services, but we need to have the knowledge of what concerns from the budget to the effectiveness of these services as a component of the political cycle of which we are all part.

Learning to analyze Public Policy allows us to formulate solutions to the problems constantly brought to the agenda of the government, as these can be our own problems, our community, our profession or problems of which we feel a special commitment.
The line of public policy research aims to analyze the challenges inherent in public policies and local governance that the country is currently facing, especially in the fight against poverty and democratic consolidation, the analysis of public policies have been putting pressure on educational institutions Superior in the sense that, in parallel with the undergraduate courses, they form staff with the level of Specialization, Postgraduate and Master’s degrees that show interest in this line of research.
This demand also results in an increasing acceptance of this academic degree in the structure of the labor market, with emphasis on the largest employer in the State.
On the other hand, in the context of governance and public management, Angola is currently facing several challenges, such as: the restructuring of the public sector, the reform of local government, the strengthening of human capacities, decentralization, Local governance and public participation are beginning to take root, and therefore institutional coordination in the formulation of public policies, strategies and effective management of resources is indispensable. These challenges imply specific demands on the levels of training and qualification of human resources, which is the responsibility of educational institutions to respond. This is how the Faculty of Law of Agostinho Neto University, through the Center for Research in Public Policies and Local Governance (CPPPGL), introduced the following lines of policy within the scope of public policies:

Public Administration and Public Sector Reform

• Land use planning
• Administration and Strategic Management
• Planning and Strategic Management
• State Business Administration
• Public Business Law
• Public Finance and Budgetary Management
• Public Administration and Public Sector Reform

Reforming the public sector is not synonymous with its dismantling, but rather abandoning paternalistic views without departing from its social obligations.

Land use planning
Territorial planning has the function of orienting an integrated planning of space, contemplating a wide diversity of elements, whether physical, human or biological, that make up the territory. This conception, derived from the theoretical and practical point of view that allows an integrative treatment, aiming at analysis, planning and management. It also proposes to combine regional and urban analysis, reflection on the special social, economic and political implications of territorial restructuring of technology, social work and political-cultural processes, since the new patterns of economic organization (private and public ), The emergence of new technologies and forms of communication contribute to the formation of new and complex territorial networks.

Administration and Strategic Management
Developed a strategic management in public organizations considering the changes coming from internal and external environments and that influence the need of the organization to adopt strategic management as superior conditions for their survival in the turbulent environments that now exist in all public administrations. Strategic management studies: a posture of visibility; Accountability for government actions by the entity and public manager; Transparency, ethics and morality in administrative management, the use of new technologies that can streamline the public service with efficiency, effectiveness and effectiveness and, above all, increase the participation of society together with the instruments of social control.

Planning and Strategic Management
Strategic planning is a process that establishes a line to be followed, with the objective of optimizing results, implying the identification of results-oriented methods, actions and resources over an estimated period of time. Context of the social reality involved. Planning involves the following key steps: diagnosis, prioritization, prognosis, execution, and monitoring. Strategic management is oriented to long-term dimensions, it is a process by which organizations study the external and internal environment, establishing the long term direction, creating and at the same time implement strategies that aim to move the organization to the direction mapped And strive to fulfill their mission.

State Business Administration
The State Business Administration is made up of all the State’s productive units, organized and managed in an entrepreneurial way, integrating public companies and investees and, at the same time, is responsible for the construction and management of fundamental public infrastructures and the Provision of essential public services, in addition to a diverse set of other instrumental functions in a wide range of sectors and fields. On the other hand, the state business administration (Public Companies) permits the exercise of other state public entities so that they may exercise, directly or indirectly, directly or indirectly, a dominant influence arising from the holding of the majority of the capital or of the rights of Vote, or the right to appoint or remove a majority of the members of the administrative or supervisory bodies.

Public Finance and Budgetary Management
It studies finances applied to the Direct and Indirect Public Administration, the State Budget, its planning, classification, elaboration and follow-up in accordance with the legislation in force in the Republic of Angola that regulates this material, it also studies, financial activity of the State that involves collection of Revenue, satisfaction of public needs and fiscal responsibility as an instrument of control for better Administration of Public Accounts.

• Local Development Policies
• Decentralization and Local Governance
• Local Finance (Municipal and Municipal)
• Economy and Local Development
• Autarchic Law and Local Development
• Local Development Policies

This guideline analyzes the guidelines, guiding principles of action of the public power; Rules and procedures for relations between public power and society, mediations between actors of society and the State. These are explicit policies, systematized or formulated in documents (laws, programs, lines of financing) that guide actions that normally involve applications of public resources for local development (DL)

Decentralization and Local Governance
It studies the transfer of powers to local territorial entities, which have their own powers and functions, and the people can freely choose who will exercise them. Administrative decentralization is always territorial, it involves entrusting the administrative function of the State to other territorially based entities (eg local authorities). It implies autonomy, freedom and democracy. Decentralization is of course a matter of greater or greater degree. It can be reduced to a decentralization for the municipalities or communes or for administrative, provincial regions.

Local Finance (Municipal and Municipal)
This area of ​​research provides the researcher with technical skills for the preparation of Municipal Profiles, which are an important source of information, for budgeting planning, preparation of Strategic Development Plans, deepening the mechanisms and practices of consultation and community participation, deepening Methodologies for participatory diagnosis, auscultation and inclusive guidance of the local development agenda, improving the financial and accounting management capacities of the Municipalities

Economy and Local Development
Local economic development is not simply the reflection of a national development process in a given locality. What characterizes the process of local economic development is the protagonism of the local actors, in the formulation of strategies, in the economic decision-making and in its implementation. It is, therefore, a process of economic development based on the autonomy of local agents who often walk in opposition to the dominant thinking. Economic development is a process by which the real national income of an economy increases over a long period of time. Real national income refers to the country’s total output of final goods and services, expressed not in monetary terms, but in real terms: the monetary expression of national income must be corrected by an appropriate price index of goods and consumption and capital goods. And if the pace of development is higher than the population, then the real per capita income will increase.

Autarchic Law and Local Development
The purposes of this area are to provide a starting point for the creation of a local economic development strategy and provide the basis for understanding and conducting strategic planning and for the implementation of policies with the aim of encouraging the training of local government , Stakeholders and citizens, empowerment and independence of local areas through local development (LED) in ways to promote an inclusive, participatory process that integrates strategic planning, local area participation, sustainability and decision-making appropriate to development And provide connections to other training and implementation opportunities that may assist the municipality, city, or local area with economic development.