Multisectoral Governance for Skills Development : An Analysis of the Open Platform for Innovation and Development of Jalisco (PLAi)

Abstract

Skills policies have seen significant growth in recent years due to factors such as changing labour markets, the increasing economic interdependence of countries, and accelerated technological advances. The literature on skills development has also expanded its scope to include terms such as governance and ecosystems. The relevance of studying this topic relates to its inclusion in the global agenda, the knowledge gap associated to the limited research available about these policies on Latin America, and it also relies on the potential of improvement for the case. In this sense, this study will use the single-case study of Jalisco and the Open Platform for Innovation and Development of Jalisco (PLAi) to study the roles of stakeholders, the objectives underlying policy implementation, and the available cooperation mechanisms. The approach will be qualitative, and I will utilise two main methods: semi-structured interviews and policy documentary analysis. Key findings include the identification of Jalisco's geographic location towards the United States as fundamental to the establishment of a skills ecosystem; the roles of stakeholders respond to a functionalist logic, in which PLAi acts as an intermediary; there are conflicting views on the economic and non-economic motivations that drove the creation of the policy, as well as clear power asymmetries in its design; and finally, several cooperation initiatives are recognized and analysed according to the degree of involvement of the actors. The results unveil some tracks for additional research in the future, as well as practical recommendations that are intended to be presented to PLAi's representatives.