Brazil Mid-Term Report 2016-2018
- Action Plan: Brazil National Action Plan 2016-2018
- Dates Under Review: 2016-2017
- Report Publication Year: 2018
- Researcher: Fabro Steibel
The third action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... involved greater collaboration with a broader diversity of actors, both during the development and implementation of the plan. The main challenge going forward is making more ambitious OGP commitments that achieve significant changes in government practices.
HIGHLIGHTS
| CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... | Overview |
| Digital Educational Resources | Work with researchers, managers, teachers, and entrepreneurs to establish a new model for digital educational resources that includes an online platform with free resources. |
| Penitentiary Data | Prevent torture and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatments in the penitentiary system by working with civil society to implement and manage a national database with prison inspection data. |
| Neutral Access to Information Policy | Safeguard the personal information and identity of access to information requesters to avoid biased government responses and discriminatory treatment. |
PROCESS
| The government and civil society organizations co-led the development of the action plan through a collaborative process. The public was able to prioritize themes through online polling and discuss proposals directly with government at co-creation workshops. During the plan’s implementation, the government hosted monitoring meetings that included discussions with the Civil Society Working Group on each commitment. |
Who was involved?
| Government | ||||
| Civil society | Narrow/ little governmental consultations | Primarily agencies that serve other agencies | Significant involvement of line ministries and agencies | |
| Beyond “governance” civil society | ✔ | |||
| Mostly “governance” civil society | ||||
| No/little civil society involvement | ||||
The JudiciaryWhile a majority of open government reforms occur within the executive branch, OGP members are increasingly taking on commitments to increase the openness of the judicial branch. Technical specificati... and Legislature are implementing OGP commitments for the first time. A variety of federal ministries, independent agencies, and subnational governments also participated in the OGP process. There were new actors on the civil society side as well, most notably private companies.
Level of input by stakeholders
| Level of Input | During Development | During Implementation |
| Collaborate: There was iterative dialogue AND the public helped set the agenda. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Involve: The government gave feedback on how public inputs were considered. | ||
| Consult: The public could give input. | ||
| Inform: The government provided the public with information on the action plan. | ||
| No Consultation |
OGP co-creation requirements
| Availability of Timeline and Process
Timeline and process available online prior to consultation |
✔ |
| Advance notice
Advance notice of consultation |
✔ |
| Awareness Raising
Government carried out awareness-raising activities |
✔ |
| Multiple Channels
Online and in-person consultations were carried out |
✔ |
| Documentation and Feedback
A summary of comments by government was provided |
✔ |
| Regular Multi-stakeholder ForumRegular dialogue between government and civil society is a core element of OGP participation. It builds trust, promotes joint problem-solving, and empowers civil society to influence the design, imple...
Did a forum exist and did it meet regularly? |
✔ |
| Government Self-Assessment Report
Was a self-assessment report published? |
✔ |
| Total | 7 of 7 |
| Acting contrary to OGP process?
A country is considered to have acted contrary to process if one or more of the following occurs: · The National Action Plan was developed with neither online or offline engagements with citizens and civil society · The government fails to engage with the IRM researchers in charge of the country’s Year 1 and Year 2 reports · The IRM report establishes that there was no progress made on implementing any of the commitments in the country’s action plan |
No |
COMMITMENT PERFORMANCE
| At the midterm, most of the commitments in the third plan were at a preliminary stage of implementation. While two of the commitments are potentially transformative, most commitments (10) have a more minor potential impact. |
Current Action Plan Implementation
| 2016-2018 Action Plan | |
| Completed Commitments by the end of Year 1 | 0 of 16 (0%) |
| OGP Global Average CompletionImplementers must follow through on their commitments for them to achieve impact. For each commitment, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) evaluates the degree to which the activities outlin... Rate by the end of Year 1 | 18% |
Previous Action Plan Implementation
| 2013-2016 Action Plan | |
| Completed Commitments by the end of Year 1 | 31 of 52 (60%) |
| Completed Commitments by the end of the Plan | 34 of 52 (65%) |
| 2012-2013 Action Plan | |
| Completed Commitments by the end of Year 1 | 25 of 32 (78%) |
| Completed Commitments by the end of the Plan | N/A |
Potential Impact
| 2016-2018 Action Plan | |
| Transformative Commitments | 2 of 16 (13%) |
| OGP Global Average for Transformative Commitments | 16% |
| 2013-2016 Action Plan Transformative Commitments | 3 of 52 (6%) |
| 2011-2012 Action Plan Transformative Commitments | N/A |
Starred commitments
| 2016-2018 Action Plan | |
| Starred Commitments by the end of Year 1 | 1 of 16 (6%) |
| Highest Number of Starred Commitments (All OGP Action Plans) | 5 |
| 2013-2016 Starred Commitments | 1 of 52 (2%) |
| 2012-2013 Starred Commitments | N/A |
IRM RECOMMENDATIONS
| 1. Redesign the consultation methodology to incentivize government and civil society to reach more ambitious commitments. |
| 2. Address key public agenda topics, such as political party financing and anti-corruption efforts. |
| 3. Further engage the private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... in the implementation of commitments, to expand open business models and private sector interest in promoting open government principles. |
| 4. Involve other areas of the government, such as the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the subnational government of São Paulo, and legislative houses that have institutionalized open government mechanisms. |
| 5. Establish a transition plan for OGP to ensure the sustainability of activities after the general electionsImproving transparency in elections and maintaining the independence of electoral commissions is vital for promoting trust in the electoral system, preventing electoral fraud, and upholding the democr.... |
COMMITMENT OVERVIEW
| Commitment
Title |
Well-designed
(Year 1)* |
Complete (Year 1) | Overview |
| 1. Open federal government data | No | No | This commitment aims to better align government-provided data with citizen-demanded data through two pilot experiments, which were pending at the midterm. |
| 2. Public resource transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More | No | No | While the government began mapping data on public resources and held preliminary discussions to promote transparency initiatives, implementation was limited. |
| 3. Effective access to information policy | No | No | This commitment aims to reform the rules used to justify denial of information requests. The government developed a methodology to evaluate current practices, as well as an internal legal analysis. |
| 4. Neutral access to information policy | No | No | In light of evidence of discrimination in responding to information requests, the government and civil society completed two preliminary studies on safeguarding the identity of requesters. |
| 5. Effective social participation mechanisms | No | No | This commitment focuses on consolidating and integrating existing participation mechanisms rather than directly improving them. Implementation was limited at the midterm. |
| 6. Digital educationAccountability within the public education system is key to improving outcomes and attainment, and accountability is nearly impossible without transparent policies and opportunities for participation ... resources ✪ | Yes | Yes | The government developed a participatory network and draft methodology for curating digital education resources. However, the platform to release these resources was pending at the midterm. |
| 7. Open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... for health | No | No | The commitment aims to proactively release access to information requests related to health from the previous four years. However, the implementation of the commitment is at a preliminary stage. |
| 8. Torture prevention in prison system | Yes | No | This commitment seeks to produce, organize, and release data that can reduce abuses in the penitenciary system. While the government took preliminary steps, such as publishing a call for proposals, the development and launch of the information system is pending. |
| 9. Innovation spaces for public service management | No | No | The government held trainings on best practices in innovation, and held a multi-stakeholder Innovation Network Meeting. The IRM recommends moving beyond raising awareness of best practices to connecting key actors and implementing initiatives. |
| 10. Evaluate and streamline public services | No | No | The government aims to create a platform with civil society to evaluate public service deliveryTo ensure that citizens of all groups are better supported by the government, OGP participating governments are working to improve the quality of and access to public services. Commitments in this are..., but the platform will focus on government performance and not feedback from end users. |
| 11. Legislative transparency and open innovation | No | No | This commitment seeks to promote open government innovation in the legislative branch of government. Implementation so far is limited to mapping eligible materials for an information repositoryAccess to relevant information is essential for enabling participation and ensuring accountability throughout the OGP process. An OGP repository is an online centralized website, webpage, platform or .... |
| 12. Open government in states and municipalities | No | No | This commitment looks to promote greater transparency at the subnational level by raising awareness of best practices. During the first year of the plan, publicly available results of implementation were still pending. |
| 13. Transpar-ency and innovation in the judiciary | No | No | This commitment seeks to establish electronic judicial proceedings. While the commitment has seen substantial implementation, the IRM recommends prioritizing not only improved internal efficiency, but also greater access to information. |
| 14. Participation in federal planning cycle | No | No | The commitment aims to improve and consolidate social participation in the Plurennial Plan. The government developed the draft monitoring methodology in partnership with civil society and began developing digital monitoring tools. |
| 15. Environ-mental transparency | No | No | While environmental transparency is an important issue in Brazil, this commitment involves preliminary steps, such as improving an open data plan, hosting an event, and establishing a monitoring group. |
| 16. Participatory culture management | No | No | The government implemented the National System of Information and Indicators on Culture in 37 percent of states and 23 cities, but other activities – such as trainings – were only partly implemented. |
* Commitment is evaluated by the IRM as specific, relevant, and has a transformative potential impact.
✪ Commitment meets the criteria (above) for a well-designed commitment and is substantially or fully complete.
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