Next LATAM

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'am the Senior Technical Lead for the Human Rights and Democracy Project, implemented by the Pan-American Development Foundation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Next LATAM?

Our organizations work with public institutions in the promotion of human rights. In El Salvador, the Procuraduría para la Defefnsa de los Derechos Humanos is the state office (the ombudsperson) in charge of defendening and denouncing publicly human rights violations in the country. Therefore, we wanted to help the Procudaruria in the prevention of these violations through an Early Warning System, which prevented automatically social conflicts in El Salvador that could eventually transform into human rights violations. Consequently, the System would constituted a useful tool for the Procuraduria in order to gather data and prevent those violations opportunely.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We searched among different IT consulting list, and evaluated ultimately 5 of them. Next LATAM´s experience both in the private and public sectos and its high quality shown within its proposal were determinant to choose it as our first option.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Next LATAM worked hand in hand with the Procuraduria since the begining. They created a work plan that established the main products and stages. First, they worked with the Procuraduria and civil society organization in the identification of current human right problems in El Salvador. Then, they created the indicators for the evaluation of social conflicts.

The creation of the indicators took hard work because of the complexity of the data gathered. Subsequently, Next LATAM provided the IT services in the Procuraduria, through the internal website and the apps of the System. Finally, the Early Warning System was succesfully implemented by the Procuraduria and works currently.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The general manager and legal representative. Also, Next LATAM was proactive on including staff from the Procuraduria in our communications. After all, the Procuraduria was the ultimate beneficiary.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

First, gathering the huge amount of data dispersed within the Procuraduria. Second, working with this information in order to critically analize it and produce meaningful warnings of human right violations. Third, creating indicators of human right violations with useful information to decision makers within the institution. Forth, creating useful IT mechanisms to facilitate communication, analysis of information and warning.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Everything was completed on time. The team was realy effective on delivering the products. The communication was always very fluent, professional and friendly.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their organization, proactivity, and high-quality services were impeccable. Also, the responsability to investigate when the situation required it and the high capacity to work with third parties (the Procuraduria).

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

In general, the work was very satisfactory. Restrictions because of the pandemic and the burocracy of the public sector were managed in a very efficient way by Next LATAM