The auxiliary department for community members did not perform studies to find out what they needed
<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">The Community Services Department (CSD) is responsible for developing public policy as well as insuring that the community’s needs are met. However, the department not only failed to forecast demands, but they failed to decentralize the workers of different projects which limits the capability of solutions and answers to the community. AGCBA also said there was a staff reduction program.</span></p> <div> </div>
Although its main purpose is to give citizens access to various social programs, the Secretariat for Social Promotion "does not diagnose the community, therefore they are not enabling other initiatives that would address the demands of the neighbors in an adequate manner," thus failing one of its main purposes. This was detected by the General Auditor of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA).
Another shortcoming that the watchdog detected about the work of the SCD is "the lack of decentralization of staff of the various programs, which limits the ability to answer questions and give solutions." In fact, the goal of "Single Window" is available to all the staff of the various programs in the different communities so to prevent citizens from having to go from one office to another in different parts of the City. However, AGCBA found that only one of the five centers visited had a delegate to the General Directorate of Women. In two centers there were people of the Comprehensive Center for Women, in one there was a representative of the Directorate General of Citizenship and only one out of the five had someone from the Addictions Program.
The report also notes that "the lack of social workers in each of the SCD affects the development of each site." The auditors conducted interviews with the coordinators, who said that the "reduction in human resources make it difficult to follow-up and to work together with the NGOs." As a matter a fact, 20% of social workers within the SCD had resigned.
The federal watchdog stated that it is necessary that "the programs report the proceedings initiated to the SCD immediately, because this hinders” the response to the citizens." It also noted that "the information system lacks adequate internal control." On this issue, the AGCBA exemplified in its report, published this year, that "the total number of attentions registered during 2010 don’t show if the queries belong to the same person," which "makes the elaboration of real statistics that would allow collaboration between the City Government and public policies difficult."
