End of Commitment Report – Data provision on hospital infrastructure and vaccination in the Municipality of São Paulo and the impact of COVID-19 on  students’s attendance in the Municipal Education Network

Name of Evaluator

Neusa Maria Bastos Fernandes dos Santos

Email

admneusa@gmail.com

Member Name

São Paulo, Brazil

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... Title

Action plan – São Paulo, Brazil, 2021 – 2024

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...

Data provision on hospital infrastructure and vaccination in the Municipality of São Paulo and the impact of COVID-19 on  students’s attendance in the Municipal 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 ... Network

Action

The commitment aims to expand and qualify 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 about COVID-19 in the municipality of São Paulo. The results foresee the generation and easy access to disaggregated data in open format about vaccination and hospital infrastructure.It also foresees that the COVID-19 Panel, a recent initiative of active transparency by the Municipal Health Secretariat to monitor the pandemic indicators, will feature simple language and a glossary of technical terms. In order to measure the impact of the pandemic on the Municipal Education Network, a report will be prepared on the school retention rate verified during the period of suspension of classroom classes, which may subsidize the construction of a new commitment in the scope of the 3rd Action Plan to implement future actions for learning recovery and school permanence.

Problems

• Low data transparency on hospital infrastructure
• Vaccination and Impact of COVID-19 on the Municipal Education Network in the Municipality of São Paulo

1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?

complete

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The 3rd Open Government Action Plan, proposed after a dynamic process of co-creation, resulted in the creation of four commitments. Commitment Four, which translates into the generation and availability of data on hospital infrastructure and vaccination in the Municipality of São Paulo and the impact of COVID-19 on the school attendance of students in the São Paulo Municipal Education Network, was anchored in four Milestones.
It can be seen that the level of progress in the implementation of Commitment 4 at the time of the evaluation was highly satisfactory, given the achievement of the 19 lines of action established and the respective deliverables for each of its four Milestones.

Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer:

• Annual Review of the 3rd Open Government Action PlanBalanco-2022-2024
• 3rd Open Government Action Plan
• Coc-creation of the 3rd OG Action Plan, Stage 2 

1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).

Throughout the implementation of the commitments, the importance of the population’s participation in the implementation of the commitments, especially milestone 4.4, was also noted, with a focus on the production of a glossary of technical terms used in the Data provision on hospital infrastructure and vaccination in the Municipality of São Paulo and the impact of COVID-19 on students’s attendance in the Municipal Education Network-19 Panel and Covid-19 Bulletins, in simple language. On the other hand, it was important to evaluate and validate the glossary with uninvolved civil society, which has less or no technical knowledge on the subject, hence the challenge of engaging the public to finalize the glossary. The city has undergone administrative restructuring, which has impacted some of the commitments, including the implementation schedule.
Regarding Education, challenges were encountered in the implementation of milestone 4.3 with regard to the completeness of the information. It was felt that the quantitative data provided by the Prefecture’s systems was insufficient to understand the education scenario following the crisis caused by the Data provision on hospital infrastructure and vaccination in the Municipality of São Paulo and the impact of COVID-19 on students’ attendance in the Municipal Education Network-19 pandemic. For this reason, it was decided collectively to change the dates of this commitment and include a phase of qualitative analysis of the data that teachers made available on the system throughout this period of remote teaching.

1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?

Most of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

By January 2023, the health-related Milestones of Commitment 4 had already been completed, thus complying with the deadline for Commitment 4 established with the OGP, but exceeding the internal deadlines for each Milestone. The delay in the internal deadlines for each Milestone was partly due to other activities unrelated to the Action Plan being carried out by the Municipal Health Secretariat.
Milestone 4.3, which is the direct responsibility of the Municipal Secretariat of Education, was delivered in November 2023, exceeding the original deadline for the milestone. One of the factors that delayed the delivery of the Milestone was the very quality of the information on students who were retained for attendance, which was made up of various personal details and sensitive personal data.
With regard to Milestone 4.1, for example, the disaggregation of data was carried out and incorporated into the COVID-19 Panel, which remains in force and constantly updated.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• COVID-19 Panel-Municipality of São Paulo
• Plan of Open Government
• 3rd Open Government Action Plan 2023 End-of-commitment 4

2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

Commitment 4 focuses on expanding the availability of COVID-19-related data and analyzing existing data on the attendance of students in the municipal public school system, contributing mainly to the principle of the value of transparency. The topic of the pandemic was also an indication of the Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More. The commitment was intended to be a new transparency practice. However, during the drafting of the Action Plan, it was noted that the scope of data openness demanded by the Civil Society was the responsibility of the state and federal executive governments. As a result, the scope of the commitment initially demanded by civil society was reduced so that it only covered what the municipal government could make available. The final commitment focuses on opening up the data which is the responsibility of the municipal executive and producing a report on the impact of Covid-19 on education.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• COVID-19 Panel-Municipality of São Paulo
• Plan of Open Government
• 3rd Open Government Action Plan 2023 End-of-commitment 4

2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Outstanding

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

Commitment 4 highlights and generates value for social and citizen participationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More as a result of various initiatives, such as the following events:

• Challenges to 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... in the City of São Paulo;
• Reports on the implementation of Commitment 4 of the 3rd Open Government Action Plan;
• Discussions with the Health Surveillance team (Vigilância em Saúde – COVISA) and the Department of Information and Communication Technology (Departamento de Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação – DTIC – Web Panel) to agree on delivery parameters and deadlines. As a result of it, the COVID-19 transparency webpage is now available on the Transparency Portal of the city;
• Discussions with the Health Surveillance team (COVISA) and the Information and Communication Technology Department (DTIC – Web Panel) to agree on delivery parameters and deadlines;
• Discussions with the Hospital Assistance team to deal with deliveries and deadlines and preliminary material

The participant’s diversity is also noteworthy:

• Open Government Coordination (Coordenadoria de Governo Aberto – CGA) – Municipal Secretariat of the Civil House (Secretaria Municipal da Casa Civil)
• Municipal Health Secretariat (Secretaria Municipal da Saúde)
• Municipal Secretariat of Education (Secretaria Municipal de Educação)
• Municipal Finance Secretariat (Secretaria Municipal da Fazenda)
• Municipal Comptroller General (Controladoria Geral do Município)
• COLAB-USP (Colaboratório de Desenvolvimento e Participação)

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Compromisso-4 Complete Table
• 3rd Open Government Action Plan 2023 End-of-commitment 4
• Acoa Open Government Plan

2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Outstanding

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The activities of Commitment Four have the potential to be a positive change in an institutional process, practice, or policy and/or aim to increase the level of accountability of employees for their actions.

2.1.4 Other Results

Not Applicable

2.2 Did the commitment address the public policy problem that it intended to address as described in the action plan?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Commitment Four is an instrument for promoting and strengthening transparency, accountability, citizen participation, and technology and innovation initiatives in the São Paulo City. The City Hall is made up of 28 secretariats, 32 sub-prefectures, and 14 municipal autarchies and is committed to developing a set of actions aimed at managing the knowledge of innovative practices of more than 120,000 civil servants.
The Open Government Agents Program promotes and disseminates practices and uses related to open government. It also works on the development and dissemination of the open government agenda at local, national, and international levels. The program is part of the federal government’s Team Brazil, linked to the Office of the Comptroller General. This office is responsible for assisting states and municipalities in improving public management and strengthening the fight against corruption. One of its key actions, “3.1: Conduct training and capacity buildingEnhancing the skills, abilities, and processes of public servants, civil society, and citizens is essential to achieving long-lasting results in opening government. Technical specifications: Set of ac... for board members,” includes courses in various categories, such as health and education.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Final Report: Program Agents OG

3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.

In relation to Education, challenges were encountered in the implementation of Milestone 4.3 regarding the completeness of the information. It was felt that the quantitative data provided by the Prefecture’s systems was insufficient to understand the education scenario following the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was therefore decided collectively to change the dates of this commitment and include a phase of qualitative analysis of the data that teachers made available on the system throughout this period of remote teaching.

In relation to Health, challenges were also encountered in the implementation of milestone 4.4, due to the production of a glossary of technical terms used in the Covid-19 Panel and Bulletins in simple language. It was a major challenge to mobilize this type of initiative with people more diverse than those already engaged in social participation and open government processes. Evaluating and validating the glossary with civil society that was not engaged and had less or no technical knowledge on the subject was a barrier to be faced.

It is worth noting that the PMSP has undergone administrative restructuring, which has impacted the delivery of some of the commitments’ milestones because there have been changes to the implementation schedule.