United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Until the year 2007, the Public Administration for the State of Pernambuco was precarious in its ability to be accountable to the public regarding the quality of its services. This situation was evidenced by the weak performance of social and economic indicators at the end of 2006 in the state of Pernambuco, along with a shortage of key professionals in important areas, such as Health, Education and Public Safety.
The lack of an integrated management model for the State Government, based on clear objectives and goals, hampered the State Government’s capacity to more effectively address the population’s basic needs, such as improving the quality of services in education, public safety, health and access to potable water. With a low capacity to make necessary investments, State Government expenditures were limited to 9.5% of its Gross Net Revenues during the period of 2003-2006 – equivalent to $593 Million Reais, when updated by the General Price Index–Internal Availability (IGP-DI).
Another problematic aspect for the delivery of quality services was related to the difficulties encountered for obtaining up-to-date and precise information on governmental operations. No instruments were available to facilitate the budgetary execution linked to a strategic plan for governmental actions. On the contrary, available formal instruments were more akin to a simple book-entry budgetary approach, lacking any strategic coherence or indicators to monitor and measure the impact of governmental actions and programs on the life of the population.
The State Government’s strategic planning flow was bottom-up, based on defining strategic plans in an isolated manner, developed by each governmental agency based on their own analysis of the implementing environment. Strategic plans from the diverse agencies were compiled to formulate the strategic plan for each Secretariat, whose plans were in turn compiled to establish the State Government’s set of strategies. As such, there was no cohesion between the secretariats and agencies founded on a single strategy. The monitoring system was incipient and, as a result, preventive and corrective actions were rarely put into place.
In this context, skepticism among the population was evident in relation to public services. For much of society, civil servants had a very negative image, characterized by inefficiency, complacency and bureaucracy. As such, the general public did not believe it was possible to create a scenario in which social well-being could be maximized. It was evident that efforts to scale up basic social services – including education, health, housing and urban transportation, among others – to reach all those in need were falling short of demand. For public polices to have an impact it is necessary to concentrate efforts by addressing the principal challenges and develop a management model that structures policies and makes it feasible to implement them targeting the most vulnerable segments of the population, as well as the most disadvantaged areas in the state territory.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Upon entering the Pernambuco State Government Executive Branch in 2007, the Governor reinforced his commitment to reverse the prevalent low rates for the quality of life of People of Pernambuco, as delineated in his campaign’s Government Program. In this sense, the goal was to overcome social deficits – in education, health and sanitation – mobilizing all available political, institutional and financial resources. Based on his belief in modernizing Public Sector Management as the most effective means to improving public service delivery, the Governor delegated to the professional staff of the Secretariat for Planning and Management (SEPLAG) responsibility for developing a model for democratic and regionalized management, focusing on results and improving services. As such, in the second semester of 2007, the Secretariat for Planning and Management (SEPLAG) developed the “Everyone for Pernambuco” Management Model, which became the new way of governing the State of Pernambuco, producing more effective and quality services. The conceptual foundation for the new Management Model is driven by: i) greater integration between planning and budgeting; ii) establishing agreements and commitments between the Governor, Secretaries and the public regarding planned actions; iii) utilization of a monitoring system based on indicators; and iv) contracting and capacity-building of human capital to guarantee dissemination, execution and development of all systematic procedures inherent to the Management Model among Secretariats and implementing agencies. Since its implementation and through the process of refinement and development, results from the “Everyone for Pernambuco” Management Model have been evidenced in various ways, such as: i) through the efficient management of revenues and expenditures that enabled an increase of 2.5 times the annual investment capacity of the Executive Branch, reaching a total of R$2.3 Billion (Brazilian Reais) in 2011; ii) by the substantial increase in investments in Health, Education and Public Safety – translated into public works carried out – when comparing annual averages over the 2007-2011 period vs. the 2003-2006 period (139%, 284% and 86% greater per year, respectively); and iii) through the confirmation of important social indicators, verified by both external sources and internal state government sources, which showed considerable improvements over the past four years. Further demonstrating the efficacy of the model to expand the State Government’s capacity to carry out public policies and deliver higher quality services, Public Safety has improved, as evidenced by 21 continuous months of reduction in the rate for intentional lethal violent crimes (CVLI), surpassing the annual goal of 12% as defined by the Pact for Life Program. In addition, Education has improved, with Pernambuco achieving results above the targets stipulated for the state by the Basic Education Development Index (IDEB), along with lower illiteracy rates and a greater percentage of the population attending higher education facilities. Health has improved, with increased child survival rates – according to the Public Health System Database (DATASUS), increased number of consumer goods in domiciles of low-income families and more homes connected to the water supply and sanitary waste systems. Average income has also increased among the population, along with the proportion of workers placed in formal employment.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Driven by the Governor’s demand for a management model that could establish an efficacious strategy for the process of improving public policy formulation and the delivery of services to society, the Secretariat for Planning and Management (SEPLAG) worked over a six-month period to respond to this request. The process for developing the “Everyone for Pernambuco” Management Model involved a team of eight management professionals from the Secretariat for Planning and Management (SEPLAG), who dedicated themselves intensely during this period. No formal contracting occurred to hire consulting firms or professionals outside the state’s reality. Through a benchmarking process to identify successful experiences in the realm of public and private sector management, the mentors for the Management Model discussed its structure based on contributions and analyses from State Secretariats and professional partners, thereby establishing an essentially endogenous development process. Once the draft version of the new Management Model was finalized – which includes a description of the main systematic procedures and a map of the strategy containing the vision, premises and priority focal points for government action – the Governor (supported by SEPLAG professionals) presented the “Everyone for Pernambuco” Management Model to about 3,000 government managers and directors in the beginning of 2008, also presenting the government’s achievements during its first year. This audience was made up of one of the principal groups of stakeholders for the new management format, given that this new systematic approach was aimed at improving the delivery of services to society. Without the participation and engagement of these managers, along with their commitment to follow new procedures for carrying out their work, the initiative would not have been successful. SEPLAG is responsible for putting the Management Model into place, supporting its implementation and further developing it as a networked system. To do so, the work was carried out by SEPLAG analysts for Planning, Budget and Management – State Government civil servants contracted for this purpose. They provide orientation and work to ensure compliance throughout the process driven by systematic activities established within the Model, especially in regards to planning, budgeting and monitoring, while ensuring that the Model’s foundations and premises are respected and applied in State Secretariats and Agencies.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
In order to achieve the principal objective of fomenting the improvement of service-delivery to society, establishment of the “Everyone for Pernambuco” Management Model sought to address four specific objectives defined by the SEPLAG team and validated by the Governor. The first objective was to design/systematize the strategy for governmental actions and related procedures for state public administration. To do so, a Strategy Map was designed depicting the vision for the future – “Balanced Social Development and Improvement in the Lives of the People of Pernambuco” – also containing three thematic action areas and 12 strategic objectives linked to the government’s priority goals defined by the Government Program and through auscultation of society. Two priority focal points within the Map guide actions targeting “the most vulnerable segments of the population” and “taking development into the interior regions of the state” under the premises of transparency, public oversight/accountability and the broadening of dialogue with society. The second objective seeks to create coordination linkages between the planning and budgetary processes, with predetermined budget allocations for each one of the government’s priority goals as described in the Strategy Map – in compliance with the state’s budget control system (e-fisco) – for the respective executing agencies. The budget modification process was made more difficult to avoid subsequent changes in plans within individual agencies and Secretariats. The third objective seeks to create a culture for effective monitoring, thereby avoiding ineffectiveness and delays. The strategy to address this objective involved establishing systematic monitoring within the Management Model, based on process indicators. Weekly meetings presided by the Governor and with the participation of State Secretaries are held at SEPLAG, with technical support from Analysts, in a room equipped with necessary technology for geo-referencing public works and programs. This process and related tools allow for step-by-step monitoring of the government’s 12 strategic objectives, which is accomplished using the website (with restricted-access): www.paineldecontrole.pe.gov.br. The fourth objective seeks to establish the Management Model as a permanent government policy, as opposed to a policy limited to a specific administration. The strategies created for accomplishing this objective were: i) sanctioning of the 2009 Complementary Law 141, which instituted the Integrated Management Model for the Pernambuco State Government Executive Branch, made up of four Systems: Citizen Oversight/Accountability, Planning and Management, Administrative Management and Internal Control; ii) conducting a public examination and hiring process to fill 700 new civil service posts for Planning, Budget and Management Analyst (APOG), Administrative Management Analyst (AGAD) and Internal Control Analyst (ACI), as part of the State’s permanent staff structure, through Complementary Laws 117, 118 and 119; and iii) creation of the Pernambuco Management Institute (Instituto Gestão-PE) as part of the Secretariat for Planning and Management (SEPLAG) organizational structure, linked to the Executive Secretariat for Planning and Management, whose objectives are to: a) ensure on-going staff development for human capital in public administration management; b) document the Model’s procedures; c) develop and disseminate the Model’s methodologies; and d) foment mechanisms for producing knowledge, debates and awards associated with best practices in public administration management.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
In the beginning of its first term in 2007, the State Government created the “Everyone for Pernambuco” Project, whose objective was to ensure and broaden public dialogue and citizen oversight/accountability. The Special Secretariats for Social Linkages and Regional Linkages were created to broaden mechanisms for consultation with society in a regionalized manner and foment interaction with the Governor. This project played an important role in developing Legislation for the Multi-Year Plan for 2008-2011, establishing plans and consolidating Government actions. The “Everyone for Pernambuco” Project progressed inasmuch as the Governor requested SEPLAG to expand the existing project to build a structure for a democratic and regionalized form of governing – a Management Model. Presented to the Governor by SEPLAG in the end of 2007, the “Everyone for Pernambuco” Management Model is driven by a strategy map and the core premise of building commitments and joint goals between the Governor, Secretariats and Civil Society. In March of 2008, in a meeting with 3,000 government managers, the Governor presented the Model and detailed the new foundations for planning and budgeting. Since the dissemination and implementation of this new form of management in the Secretariats and Agencies required the incorporation of new practices as defined within the Model, a temporary team was contracted in March 2008 to put the new budget monitoring and oversight system into place, as the State also prepared to create new civil service positions for management practices, subsequently contracting new employees. As follow-on to efforts to strengthen the Model, the EGP - a PMBOK-based Project Management Office - was created in 2009 to monitor large-scale public works projects. However, in order for the Management Model to be established as State policy and not for a single administration, legal measures were necessary to regulate the Model’s foundations. The following formal measures were thus taken: i) in 2008, the first State Public Examination and Hiring process for Analysts took place and in September 2009, the Complementary Law 141 was sanctioned, instituting the Pernambuco State Government Executive Branch Integrated Management Model – the formal denomination for the “Everyone for Pernambuco” Management Model. In 2011 the Pernambuco Management Institute (Instituto Gestão-PE) was created to support consolidation of the Model, document necessary procedures for making the Model operational, stimulate research and adopt new practices and enhance staff capacity in public administration management. Reelected in the 2010 elections, the Governor began a new management cycle, launching a new strategy map built on mutual commitments with State Secretaries and the population through Regional Seminars, while maintaining the Management Model’s foundations.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
As part of the process for designing and building the “Everyone for Pernambuco” Management Model, the first major obstacle encountered was the short timeframe – six months – that the Governor gave to SEPLAG for submitting this new systematic approach for managing the State Government. To overcome this challenge, a group of eight professionals fully dedicated themselves to this task, working seven days a week throughout this period, carrying out research, discussing methodological foundations, projecting scenarios and developing the first documents that would become the “Everyone for Pernambuco” Management Model, working to meet expectations and guarantee a high level of technical quality. Another obstacle encountered was the process for dissemination and implementation of the Model within the state government itself. Even though it was subject the Governor’s evaluation and validation, the Management Model faced the risk of diminished support and discontinuity. Seeking a solution to this obstacle, SEPLAG held a meeting with all the State Government Managers, in which the Governor himself presented the project as a new form of governing the State of Pernambuco, emphasizing that everyone was expected to be engaged in the multiplication of this new systematic approach within their State Agencies and Secretariats. Another obstacle that surfaced was ensuring capillarity for disseminating the procedures and practices associated with the Management Model throughout the public sector bureaucracy. It was necessary to put these procedures and practices into place in 30 secretariats and 66 agencies in the Pernambuco State Government. In light of this obstacle, the complete discipline on the part of the Governor and the Management Unit to work exclusively within the procedures established under the Model was fundamental. As an example of this commitment, since 2008, the Monitoring meetings only take place with the Governor presiding these sessions and with the participation of the State Secretaries. Finally, in order for the initiative to be structured and regulated as something well beyond a set of technically sound best practices in management – but lacking a legal base to sustain them – the Complementary Law 141 was sanctioned in 2009 to create the Pernambuco State Government Executive Branch Integrated Management Model, defined as “a systemic organization of functions linked to the formal planning and management instruments adopted by the State Public Administration.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Consistent with the nature of this effort as an initiative to build more effective management in State Government, no costs were associated with project’s development, given that the professionals initially involved in the project carried out their planning and budget-related functions in SEPLAG. However, throughout the implementation of the “Everyone for Pernambuco” Management Model, other actors were contracted and incorporated into the project. First, a temporary team of close to 30 professionals from the Institute for Support to the University of Pernambuco (Instituto de Apoio à Universidade de Pernambuco-IAUPE) was contracted in early 2008 to put the monitoring cycles procedures into place: this group was responsible for developing planning activities and establishing goals, developing operational plans and evaluating the effectiveness of monitoring cycles and results. Later, in 2009 and in 2010, public examination and hiring processes were conducted to create a permanent team of analysts as career civil servants in recently created positions to establish procedures for implementing the Model throughout the entire government administration. The entire team went through a rigorous Training Program during the selection process, so as to build their capacity to carry out their functions in accordance with the Management Model framework and standards. For these new team members to carry out their activities in both the central offices of the Secretariat for Planning and Management (SEPLAG) and sector-specific units – based in the State Government Secretariats – it was necessary to purchase appropriate furniture and equipment – such as tables, chairs, telephone, computers and printers. As such, the Government invested financial resources already allocated under existing legislation to mobilize the human capital that would put the Model’s procedures into place.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
With the accomplishments observed over the last four years, the Government understands that continuity and further development of the Management Model is necessary to ensure its use as an instrument to guarantee effective Public Administration Management, expressed through improved services delivered to society. To this end, new ways are being sought to improve upon the Model, while consolidating the practices underway in the State. Concrete results from implementing the Management Model are measured by improvements in the state’s socioeconomic indicators – having attained results greater than targeted rates in the Northeast region of the country and well above the national average – attracting the attention of other states, as well as that of the national press and academic community, in relation to the Model. Delegations from other states – interested in becoming familiar with the Model and practices – have come frequently to Pernambuco, as well as federal government representatives. The Governor has accepted invitations to present the Model around the country and abroad. Dissemination of the Management Model has entailed systematic actions to: i) speeches at universities, public and private companies in the state, as well as at the national and international levels, to present the practices, characteristics and results inherent to its implementation; ii) launching of the Pernambuco Public Management Magazine (Revista Gestão Pública-PE) as an instrument to share ideas and scientific studies regarding public administration management in the state of Pernambuco; iii) creation of the Pernambuco Award for Innovation and Quality to disseminate best practices in public administration management; and iv) spontaneous recognition in the media, with the Model having been the subject of two editions in one of the most respected national magazines and an article in the country’s principal newspaper specializing in management and business. Towards ensuring continuous enhancements, SEPLAG has developed the following complementary functions to the Model: i) mapping of organizational processes linked to the Model’s procedures, especially those related to standards for Monitoring service-delivery to society at large; ii) an On-going Capacity-Building Program for analysts in Planning, Budgeting and Management; iii) consolidation of the operational procedures for oversight of civil works based on the PMBOK methodology; iv) systematic speeches to disseminate and showcase the Management Model and its operational procedures and characteristics; and v) banners with graphics that depict the Strategy Map, distributed throughout the government’s entire public administration structure to facilitate visualization of this new form of governing. In spite of the statewide scope for the Management Model’s structure, the Model’s systematic approach incorporates very simple methodological characteristics that can be replicated at the municipal level, generating equally positive results. This has been the experience demonstrated in other municipalities, such as the municipality of Jaboatão dos Guararapes, which observed the Model functioning at the state level so as to replicate its systematic approach to improve the delivery of public services by the municipal administration.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The results credited to this new form of governing directly linked to improvements in the quality of life for People of Pernambuco has made this initiative a success. Since the creation of the Management Model in 2007, water supply has increased, with 1.5 million people no longer subject to water rationing. The building of three new metropolitan hospitals and restoration and expansion of major emergency hospitals have increased the number of available hospital beds in the State Health System by 1,307. Creation of 147 new Secondary Education Reference Schools and 13 new Technical Schools reflects expansion of investments in Education. Roadway construction allowing access to previously isolated municipalities is contributing to creating development regions. Large investments are being leveraged with the Federal Government and new companies have contributed to creating new opportunities for employment in the Capital and inland regions of the state. Results are measured by the Pernambuco State Planning and Research Agency (CONDEPE/FIDEM) and consolidated by SEPLAG in official technical reports produced by analysts from the Executive Secretariat for Management Model Development. The success of this initiative is confirmed when compared with periods prior to implementation of the Management Model. One lesson learned in the creation, implementation and development of the Management Model is that this process requires changes in the organizational culture, resulting in greater engagement and commitment of State Government Secretaries and managers in reaching goals and ensuring fiscal-budgetary accountability. Using indicators, this is the focus of discussions in Monitoring meetings with the Governor. Another lesson learned is that the efficacy of all innovations in an organization largely depends on the capacity of its human capital. It is not enough to establish goals; the means to reach them must be provided. It is thus understood that training of public administration management professionals is one of the means for ensuring better quality of services delivered to the public. Another aspect learned relates to the importance of buy-in by the top administrator to provide needed leadership. The responsibility for design, implementation and development of the Management Model was assigned to SEPLAG, which took into account all technical implications and dimensions of the project. However, without the Governor’s leadership in the process of making good on the project throughout all phases, the project would not have attained such visible and high-impact results. Finally, within this reality, the issues of transparency and greater citizen oversight/accountability are perceived as essential elements to legitimize the Government vis-à-vis the population. For the State Government to design policies and programs that focus on citizens and real problems, it must truly evaluate how each governmental action corresponds to expectations for what should be done. In this model, the public sector continually dialogues with society though Regional Seminars and Special Secretariats for developing and implementing policies, holding itself accountable for results obtained through the Transparency Gateway (www.transparencia.pe.gov.br), recognized by the respected organization, Contas Abertas (“Open Books”), as one of the top three in the country whose ethical and responsible communication seeks to ensure accountability with transparency.


Institution Name:		Secretaria de Planejamento e Gestão
Institution Type:		Government Department
Contact Person:		Maurício Cruz
Title:		Planning, Budget and Management Analyst
Telephone/ Fax:		558131823852
Institution's / Project's Website:		www.seplag.pe.gov.br
E-mail:		mauriciosmc@terra.com.br
Address:		1377, Aurora Street
Postal Code:		50040-090
City:		Recife
State/Province:		Pernambuco
Country:		Brazil

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information