MeTA Peru stakeholders discuss a new ‘space’

Posted on 21 September 2009

Three members on the Executive Committee of the MeTA Peru Council reflected recently on their participation in MeTA, the advantages and disadvantages of a multi-stakeholder process and where they think change is already happening. There were lots of common areas in their responses, despite coming from different sectors.

To the question, what is different about working in a multi-stakeholder group, stakeholders had common responses:

-       Working in an interdisciplinary team allows for greater breadth of vision.

-      Approaching the problem is better integrated in a multi-stakeholder process. If we work individually, the task is more complex.

-       A multi-stakeholder and a multi-disciplinary approach leads to different choices of interventions and guarantees greater efficiency.

They all agreed that change has started to happen as a result of the MeTA process and all referred to the new ‘space’ that has been created in Peru to deal with problems in the medicines supply chain. The most noticeable change so far is internally within the group. This is in realising that each of the five members of the Executive Committee needs the presence of the other members, because they are each sources of valuable information,and are professionals in their field. Peru has gained a technical space in the debate about public policies in medicines and this can act as a reference for other entities or institutions, public or private. Furthermore, civil society has gained a space in which it can interact about transparency issues at the same level as industry and government entities.

One stakeholder commented that it is “very important to generate a space where people of different professions and backgrounds can interact.” Another said; “One of the most significant changes is the fact that problems are being examined and solutions proposed which are in the interest of the country. Participatory and democratic processes allow us to put together the diverse contributions from each of the stakeholders,and at the same time diminish the barriers that would have existed among us otherwise. MeTA represents a space where the relationship between civil society and the government is further legitimised, allowing better decisions to be made about public policies.”

All stakeholder representatives agreed that there has been a change in the way of working. However, MeTA’s aim is to generate good quality and robust information about the medicines sector. So has anything changed in this respect? Yes: already one of the members, DIGEMID (the Drug Regulatory Agency), has made available to MeTA Peru all of its work regarding the Price Observatory. The National Ombudsman’s Office (Defensoria) has proposed the wider use of economic transparency portals in reference to the availability and execution of medicines budgets. Public institutions in the Executive Committee of MeTA Peru have opened up, which means a more agile administrative process in official action.

The multi-stakeholder process in MeTA Peru is not without its difficulties. The stakeholders noted challenges including the time it takes to get consensus between stakeholders with different perspectives about what can be achieved in what timescale and what issues or actions to prioritise. Another challenge is that at the end of the Pilot Phase the MeTA Council needs to demonstrate that it has met the objectives laid out in the workplan. However, it is more important in the long term that the stakeholders involved in MeTA have changed in their outlook and way of working, as this is most important in achieving greater access to good quality and affordable medicines in Peru. Other difficulties are that they have not used the MeTA Peru website effectively enough for dissemination and collection of information, and that certain media activities, such as press conferences or a public awareness video, have not been completed because of lack of time and capacity. Stakeholders also noted that MeTA Peru is still a growing process. It has a very strong dependency on the public sector in decision-making about important matters. The most important challenge to MeTA Peru is to position the initiative as a source of analysis and action on public polices to improve access to medicines. 

MeTA Peru website