Effectiveness of National Policy for Social Participation Mechanisms (BR0088)

Lead government institution: Government: Secretariat; Civil servant in charge for implementing at lead government institution: Jailton Almeida do Nascimento; Position - Department General Coordinator/ Social Participation in Public Management Coordination; E-mail: jailton.almeida@presidencia.gov.br; Telephone: 55 61 34113199, Other involved actors Government Ministry of Transparency, Oversight and Comptroller General of Brazil Government Secretariat Ministry of Planning, Development and Management Civil society, private sector, group of workers and multilateral actors Democratic City Institute Polis University of Campinas Health NationalCouncil Status quo or problem/issue to be addressed Need of fostering free digital technology use and transparency tools, integrated to social participation mechanisms Main objective To develop strategies, which are able to promote social participation transformation into concrete, transparent, focused on citizens ‘needs and on their regions governmental actions, in addition to spreading and multiplying local government adherence to social participation digital mechanisms Commitment short description Disseminate the use of tools for transparency and of free digital technologies, mainly on the local level, and developing strategies, which promote social participation transformation into concrete, transparent, focused on citizens ‘needs and on their regions governmental actions OGP Challenge addressed by the Commitment Improvement of Public Services More effective public resources management Establishment of more secure communities Commitment relevance Defining ways of implementing initiatives, which are able of developing the current social participation paradigm. Goal Social Participation System Consolidation/Strengthening

5. Effectiveness of National Policy for Social Participation Mechanisms

Commitment Text:

Integrate online tools on a single platform, in order to consolidate/strengthen the Social Participation System (SPS)

The commitment essentially aims at defining ways of implementing initiatives, which are able of developing the current social participation paradigm. For that, it is necessary to foster free digital technology use and transparency tools, integrated to social participation mechanisms used in concrete government actions and focused on citizens’ needs.

5.1 – Workgroup formation, with civil society and government representatives

5.2 – Social Participation System online interaction tool and Best Practices inventory taking

5.3 – Hackathon, for creating citizen-driven interaction solutions in social participation platforms

5.4 – Monitoring and evaluation strategy development for social participation mechanisms, allowing data opening and interaction among actors

5.5 – Definition of a single platform structure, as well as the content of the available information

5.6 – Platform testing

5.7 – Platform strengthening

5.8 – Platform launch

Responsible institution: Government Secretariat

Supporting institutions: Ministry of Transparency, Oversight and Comptroller General of Brazil, Ministry of Planning, Development and Management, Democratic City, Institute Polis, University of Campinas, Health National Council

Start date: December 2016 . End date: November 2018

Context and Objectives

As stated in the action plan, the federal government offers a variety of mechanisms for public participation, but their use by civil society is disperse. Civil society organizations work disconnected one from another. In addition, the government recognizes that public service delivery should incorporate mechanisms for public participation, so that users of government services can give feedback. To address this issue, the government seeks to integrate online participation tools into a single platform that will strengthen the Social Participation System (which is a set of participatory mechanisms run by the Government Secretariat).

As a country, Brazil has pioneered mechanisms for online civic participation. The first experiences in the country date back to 2000.[1] A watershed co-creation process between government and civil society led to the publication of the Brazilian Internet Bill of Rights in 2014.[2] However, the overall success of such mechanisms and their use by government to implement decisions is not widespread.[3] For example, more than 75 percent of public services do not have a public evaluation system.[4] Therefore, this commitment addresses an area of great national expertise that shows a great need for improvement and cohesion, particularly at the federal level.[5]

The commitment’s level of specificity is medium. On the one hand, the government outlines a series of steps to launch the unified participation portal. These include convening a working group with both government and civil society; conducting a hackathon to create new participatory innovations; and planning, testing, and launching the portal. On the other hand, it remains unclear who exactly will participate in the working group, the hackathon, or the monitoring. The commitment also does not make clear the expected characteristics and features of the portal. The commitment is relevant to the OGP values of civic participation and technology and innovation, because it aims to create a portal to streamline access to mechanisms for civic participation.

The commitment has a minor potential impact to improve open government standards in Brazil. The rating reflects the commitment’s focus on grouping existing mechanisms rather than directly promoting or improving civic participation. In the long term, the commitment could have a major impact if it increases the overall level and efficiency of participation. However, this would require complementary actions and initiatives that go beyond the scope of this commitment.

Completion

The commitment has seen limited completion. Most of the milestones implemented relate to the pre-stages of the policy change.

The formation of a collaborative workgroup (milestone 5.1) has been implemented, as recorded in the monitoring meetings of the commitment.[6] Government and civil society organizations participate in the working group. Those organizations include academics (e.g., University of Brasilia), government research agencies (e.g., Institute for Applied Economic Research [IPEA]), and civil society (e.g., Cidade Democrática). Federal executive agencies, (e.g., Ministry of Planning, Development, and Management [MPOG]; Ministry of Transparency, Oversight, and Comptroller-General; Government Secretariat) also participate.

The government substantially completed the inventory of tools and best practices of social participation systems (milestone 5.2). The research on best practices includes work previously done by government agencies such as IPEA,[7] the Secretariat of Government,[8] and the MPOG.[9] However, the government has published no organized and public inventory of participatory tools so far.

Milestones 5.3-5.8 have not yet started. However, a government representative (Jailton Almeida) mentioned that the platform referenced in the commitment is being studied.

Milestones 5.1-5.3 were expected to be delivered by October 2017, which puts the commitment behind schedule.

Early Results (if any)

The commitment outlines its main results as streamlined (no longer fragmented) online mechanisms for public participation. These mechanisms would follow benchmarks such as Crystal Ballot Portal of Colombia.[10] Such mechanisms could improve public services and public resource management. However, due to the limited completion of the commitment, it is too early to evaluate results.

Next Steps

During the second action plan, the government delivered Participa.br, a consultation portal that grouped several tools for civic participation. Several government and civil society organizations use the portal.[11] The government should heed the lessons learned and use the technologies developed as part of this previous commitment in its implementation of the current commitment. Other ways to improve the commitment include building on benchmark initiatives from the private sector, such as Colab.re, to increase the effectiveness of citizen participation and government responses.[12] (For example, Colab.re uses mobile technology and provides game-like features in dialogues with public servants.)

5. Effectiveness of National Policy for Social Participation Mechanisms

Commitment Text:

Integrate online tools on a single platform, in order to consolidate/strengthen the Social Participation System (SPS).

The commitment essentially aims at defining ways of implementing initiatives, which are able of developing the current social participation paradigm. For that, it is necessary to foster free digital technology use and transparency tools, integrated to social participation mechanisms used in concrete government actions and focused on citizens’ needs.

More specifically, the commitment was set out to achieve the following milestones:

5.1 – Workgroup formation, with civil society and government representatives

5.2 – Social Participation System online interaction tool and Best Practices inventory taking

5.3 – Hackathon, for creating citizen-driven interaction solutions in social participation platforms

5.4 – Monitoring and evaluation strategy development for social participation mechanisms, allowing data opening and interaction among actors

5.5 – Definition of a single platform structure, as well as the content of the available information

5.6 – Platform testing

5.7 – Platform strengthening

5.8 – Platform launch

Responsible institution: Government Secretariat

Supporting institutions: Ministry of Transparency, Oversight and Comptroller General of Brazil, Ministry of Planning, Development and Management, Democratic City, Institute Polis, University of Campinas, Health National Council

Start Date: December 2016 ..                         End Date: November 2018

Commitment Aim:

The federal government offers a variety of mechanisms for public participation, but their use by civil society is scarce. To address this issue, the government sought to integrate online participation tools into a single platform that would strengthen the Social Participation System (a set of participatory mechanisms run by the Government Secretariat).

Status

Midterm: Limited

The commitment saw limited completion and was behind schedule. The government completed Milestone 5.1, involving the formation of a collaborative working group. Milestone 5.2 was underway. It involves an inventory of tools and best practices of social participation systems, which was pending publication. Milestones 5.3–5.8 had not been started.

End of term: Limited

The government completed Milestone 5.1; Milestone 5.2 is partially complete. Milestones 5.3–5.8 were not completed. Therefore, the level of completion is limited.

According to government responses to the IRM researcher survey, the list for Milestone 5.2 was based on an internal consultation with other government agencies. No public source was provided. The government reported in its self-assessment report that it completed the inventory list with the aid of another government agency (Secretary of Communications). It also noted that best practices were included in the new government digital communication standard identity, published in 2018. [28] The IRM researcher consulted the mentioned portal and found no evidence of best practices. The portal does not mention public participation, and no specific guidelines on these topics could be found. Therefore, the milestone is considered not achieved.

Milestone 5.3 calls for a hackathon to occur during implementation to co-create solutions on social participation. The government considered the activity not necessary, since the government directly defined the tools to be implemented on the online platform. Due to the change, which was not formally communicated as an update of the milestone content, the milestone is considered not started.

Milestones 5.4–5.8 involve the implementation of ways to integrate social participation mechanisms in government websites. The government mentioned that a pilot website was under construction, but at the end of the implementation period, no evidence of the website could be found. Therefore, these milestones were not achieved.

Did It Open Government?

Civic Participation: Did Not Change

The problem identified by the commitment involved the fragmentation of mechanisms of civic participation available for citizens to review government websites. The commitment sought to promote citizen-centered opportunities to strengthen the Social Participation System. Due to the limited completion of the commitment, no change in the status quo had taken place by the end of the implementation period.

Carried Forward?

This commitment did not carry over into the fourth national action plan. The government has stated that a pilot website is underway and that a working group with civil society will be created soon.