“Brazil Transparent” Program (BR0071)

to support the implementation of the Access to Information Law and combine efforts to increase public transparency and the adoption of measures for open government in States and Municipalities. To this end, seminars, workshops and training courses on technical and guiding topics of these themes shall be carried out. Furthermore, campaigns and disseminating actions for the Access to Information Law shall also be carried out, as well as capacity-building activities related to the development of Transparency Portals and Citizen Information System (e-SIC) in subnational level.

Commitment 3.3. “Brazil Transparent” Program

Commitment Text: To support the implementation of the Access to Information Law and combine efforts to increase public transparency and the adoption of measures for open government in States and Municipalities. To this end, seminars, workshops and training courses on technical and guiding topics of these themes shall be carried out. Furthermore, campaigns and disseminating actions for the Access to Information Law shall also be carried out, as well as capacity-building activities related to the development of Transparency Portals and Citizen Information System (e-SIC) in subnational level.

Responsible institution: Office of the Comptroller General

Supporting institution: None

Start date: Not specified                          End date: 14 December 2014

Commitment aim

The objective of the commitment was to assist states and municipalities in implementing the transparent government measures included in the Access to Information Law (LAI). The LAI outlines a set of requirements for government agencies to adopt, such as websites to receive freedom of information requests and trainings for public servants to handle requests. The commitment aimed to launch the Transparent Brazil program to support government agencies in implementing the LAI, thereby increasing public transparency and expanding open government efforts, particularly at the subnational level.

Status

Midterm: Completed

As of December 2014, 1,444 municipalities had joined the Transparent Brazil system, and various support materials (guides and manuals) were published. Another of the commitment’s deliverables was to distribute the source code of the electronic Citizen Information System (e-SIC). For additional details, please see the IRM Midterm Progress Report.

Did it open government?

Access to information: Major

Civic participation: Marginal

Public accountability: Marginal

The commitment made a major contribution to open government by publishing a transparency index, supporting municipal governments in providing access to information, and involving citizens in the process. Perhaps the most visible outcome of the commitment was a transparency index portal that grades Brazilian municipalities and states on their compliance with the LAI and their level of passive transparency.^{[Note 83: CGU, Escala Brasil Transparente, http://bit.ly/2iYpgW8. ]} The government published two editions of the index highlighting success stories, worst offenders, and changes over time.^{[Note 84: For examples of media coverage, please see http://glo.bo/2jbwB3M; http://bit.ly/2hXGUfW; http://bit.ly/2hYsAP6; and http://bit.ly/2hXKJSg. ]} Both editions received widespread media coverage. The data from the rankings was also released in open data format.^{[Note 85: CGU, Escala Brasil Transparente, Open Data, http://bit.ly/2iYhRWZ. ]}

The ranking is crucial to expanding implementation of the LAI since government agencies need to voluntarily enter the Transparent Brazil program. By November 2016, 1,630 municipalities had joined the program.^{[Note 86: CGU, Brasil Transparente, Mapa das Adesões, http://bit.ly/2ijElRs. ]} These municipalities receive support, such as a free software system that manages freedom of information requests and integrates local data with national data. This means that government agencies that enter the program see a major increase in transparency and efficiency of freedom of information requests. The ranking has received strong media coverage nationally^{[Note 87: Estadão, “Veja o ranking do Transparência Brasil,” https://goo.gl/oGz5hl. ]} and locally,^{[Note 88: 94 FM, “Dourados tem nota zero em transparência no poder público, diz CGU,” https://goo.gl/398LxK. ]} and is used by private sector institutions as a tool to improve private-public partnerships at the local level.^{[Note 89: Instituto Votorantim, “Administração pública transparente ainda é desafio para gestores,” https://goo.gl/0SkAAe. ]} In addition, the latest edition of the ranking shows that transparency in most states and municipalities has improved.^{[Note 90: CGU, Escala Brasil Transparente, http://bit.ly/2iYpgW8. ]}

In terms of support to municipal governments, the government had trained approximately 9,000 public servants in 929 municipalities on transparency and access to information by the end of 2014. It also published standard practices for access to information, such as for implementing a transparency portal, regulating the LAI, and creating an access to information section on public websites, though it is unclear exactly how much these have been used. One hundred twenty-seven entities requested the e-SIC code and five municipalities are already using it, according to the government. Overall, the commitment’s many contributions to regulating the LAI in all regions of the country are noteworthy, and are considered a major step forward in access to information.^{[Note 91: Working paper on the 5 years of implementation of the access to information law http://transparencia.ebape.fgv.br/sites/transparencia.ebape.fgv.br/files/transparencyandopacity_pt.pdf}

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As for civic participation and public accountability, the government trained nearly 10,000 people on the LAI, including citizens and public servants on federal, state, and municipal councils. The Transparency Brazil community on the e-Democracy website served as a further space for citizens to provide feedback during the implementation of the commitment. Although the training could be transformative in the future, its contribution to civic participation and public accountability in the short term was only marginal.

Carried forward?

The commitment was not carried forward to Brazil’s next action plan. If carried forward in the future, the IRM researcher recommends expanding the adoption of the e-SIC system, and including indicators published by cities. The IRM researcher also suggests adopting mechanisms for civil society to participate in the monitoring of the e-SICs.