| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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Democratic Budget allows a continuous pedagogical process of social participation, expanding the space for discussing State problems and mobilizing a greater number of social actors involved in seeking alternatives and solutions to State problems. It establishes a partnership the Sate and the population, with more transparency in information about the State to the people, besides changing the relationship between the State and City governments.
This instrument was created to contribute to the State's planning process through Participative Democracy in the State's Public Policies Management, giving citizens the social control to collaborate, converse, follow and monitor constructions works, services, and actions provided by Paraíba State Government. So far in Brazil, similar participative budgeting experiences were only found in a few cities and states.
In that way, ODE-PB was implemented with the basic principles of Democratization; Participation; Regionalization; Intersectionality; Economy; Decentralization; Redistribution; and Integrated Sustainable Development.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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Through Provisional Measure 160, dated January 1st 2011, and Law 9,332, dated January 25th 2011, Paraíba State Government created the State Democratic Budget (ODE-PB) Sub-secretariat, linked to the State Secretariat of Planning, Budgeting and Management (SEPLAG). It was reformulated by Provisional Measure 230, dated January 2nd 2015, and is now called State Democratic Budget Executive Secretariat, still linked to the State Secretariat of Planning, Budgeting and Management. Aiming to better manage the State administratively, Paraíba was divided into 14 Geo-administrative Regions (RGAs). ODE-PB used these 14 RGAs as guidance to its activities and actions. The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) estimates that in 2015, Paraíba had a population of over 3.9 million residents, making it the 5th most populated State in the Northeast.
Leaving the coast and going towards the countryside to reach the population is crucial to achieving a democratic management model based on the voice of the people. Located in the Northeast of Brazil, Paraíba has over 56 million square kilometers of territory divided into 223 cities distributed into the mesoregions of Zona da Mata, Agreste, Borborema, and Sertão. The State Democratic Budget is the main instrument of this breakthrough cultural change, promoting citizenship through popular empowerment throughout the whole State.
In all 14 regions of Paraíba, annually held public audiences gather up to 5 thousand participants. A total of 95 plenary sessions have been done since the beginning, with the direct participation of over 200 thousand people. And the numbers keep growing: there were 13,335 participants in 2011; 19,117 in 2012; 21,108 in 2013; 30,201 in 2014; 36,681 in 2015; and 35,576 in 2016.
The demands presented are organized into themed axes to include investment priorities in the subsequent budget in the Pluri-Annual Plan (PPA), the Budgeting Guidelines Law (LDO), the Annual Budgeting Law (LOA). Between 2012 and 2015, over 7 billion reais were invested in actions.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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ODE-PB was created with the following basic principles: Democratization - expanding the space to exercise citizenship and a democratic governance; Participation - promoting social empowerment, control, and co-responsibility; Regionalization - cities can now articulate their interests regionally instead of individually as it was before, without losing their specific aspects; Intersectionality - being an instrument that integrates different institutional, governmental and non-governmental stakeholders through a network of state and region wise articulation; Economy - doing more public policies, constructions works and services with less resources; Decentralization - promoting institutional articulation in all Geo-administrative Regions; Redistribution - deconcentrating public policies, investments, construction works, and services throughout the State; and Integrated Sustainable Development - prioritizing the regions and their potentials.
The Activity Schedule:
February: preparatory meetings on the 14 State regions; March: breakfast with journalists and Ceci Melo Awards; April, May and June: 1st Stage - 16 regional audiences at the 14 Geo-administrative Regions; August: 2nd Stage - Regional Democratic Planning and Democratic Planning with State Secretaries and Heads of Indirect Administration Organs from the more requested sectors in the audiences; August, September, October and November: 3rd Stage - State and Regional Councils Ordinary and Extraordinary Meetings; December: forming the 566 Democratic Budget Council Members with Transversal themes (Gender and Human Diversity), Administrative and Economic themes (Public Budgeting, Budgeting tools), Themed Forums of Participative Democracy, seminars and workshops, and Planning and Evaluating Meetings for the acting of State and Regional Councils as well as all Secretariat staff (Articulators, Formation and Monitoring Managers and others).
Information Flow on ODE's Activity Schedule:
Regional Audiences - the population points out three investment priorities for their region and presents three demands related to the three priorities.
Planning and Information Management Center (ODE-PB's Technical Center) - systemizes the demands, organizing them into a database to be sent to the Regional Councils and State Secretariats and Organs.
Regional Councils - each region highlights the most relevant issues according to their reality.
State Secretariats and Organs - receive the regional demands database as well as feedback from Regional Councils. The Secretariats are responsible for pointing out impractical demands or denial justification.
Democratic Planning - an event that allows Secretaries and Council Members to socialize and discuss the demands that will be addressed and later added to the Annual Budgeting Law (LOA), identifying the actions aiming to address the demands made by the population in Regional Audiences.
Sector Division of the Staff:
Secretary Executive - 1 person, Chief of Staff - 1 person; Consultant - 1 person; Planning and Information Management Center - 5 people; Secretary Executive Assistant - 1 person; Communication Department - 3 people; Regional Formation and Monitoring Management (GRAF) - 8 people; Democratic Planning Council Executive Secretariat - 1 person; Administrative and Operational Support Management - 4 people; Transport Department - 6 people; Regional Articulators - 33 people.
Annual financial costs:
To enable the Activity Cycles: CYCLE 2011, R$ 1.500.000,00; CYCLE 2012, R$ 1.500.000,00; CYCLE 2013, R$ 1.300.000,00; CYCLE 2014, R$ 1.300.000,00; CYCLE 2015, R$ 1.300.000,00; CYCLE 2016, R$ 1.211.506,42; CYCLE 2017, R$ 1.211.506,42.
Costs with Human Resources: Annual Financial costs with human resources: R$ 1,466,593.44. It paid for: an Executive Secretary; an Executive Secretary Assistant; a Head of Office; Consultory; a Planning and Information Management Center; a Communications Consultory; a Democratic Budget Council Executive Secretary; an Operational and Administrative Manager; a Transport Sector; a Formation and Monitoring Regional Management; Regional Articulators and an Events Coordination Center.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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Many stakeholders were involved in the implementation process of ODE in the State. Paraíba State Governor Ricardo Coutinho organized it based on the positive experience with the Democratic Budget model in capital city João Pessoa.
Implementing the initiative included:
- Paraíba State Government
- Legislative Assembly
- State Secretariat of Planning, Budgeting and Management (SEPLAG), to which State Democratic Budget is linked
- State and City Development Institute (IDEME), which carried out studies and researches and produced information for the planning and consultancy. It resulted in a significant contribution to state planning as well as regional and city planning to develop the 14 Geo-administrative Regions.
- Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), who contributed to elaborate the project of creating an innovative public policy of participative and democratic government management which resulted in creating the model/methodology of State Democratic Budget (ODE) and adding to State management activities.
- Cultural Action Center non-governmental organization, who developed formative, policy educative and organizational activities, especially regarding mobilization, structuring and strengthening popular participation in the elaboration and managing process of Budgeting Laws, with a continuous formation with Democratic Budget staff as well as State and Regional Councils.
- Social Movements of Urban Reformation, Dam victims, Rural Worker's Union, Women, Black people, LGBT people, Landless Movement (MST), Indigenous people, Quilombo residents, Youth and others who participate not only in the Audiences but also as Council Members.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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Creating ODE-PB allowed the development of indicators to the State Planning and Management and Investment Priority Axes that served as a guide in the 14 Geo-administrative Regions. The Sustainable Development Objectives (ODS) were: Education, Health, Water Supply, Public Safety, Roads and Housing. These axes express the greatest needs of Paraíba State citizens and are crucial to the decision-making process.
Results obtained:
Water Supply - construction of Camará Dam, with a 26 million cubic meters capacity, which will benefit over 175 thousand residents of 21 locations on Brejo region. 44 million reais were invested in the new dam.
Roads - expansion of the terrestrial road network, allowing the creation of Paraíba Roads Program, with 57 cities being removed from isolation (2,400 km). According to the National Transport Confederation (CNT), Paraíba has the fourth best road network in Brazil, second best in the Northeast. 1.28 billion reais were invested in building and restoring highways, a total of 2,432 km. Other works that deserve to be mentioned are João Pessoa's Metropolitan Region Urban Mobility works such as the Geisel Viaduct, an investment of 38.9 million reais that directly benefits 723,515 residents of the capital city, and Mangabeira Clover, a 25 million investment that benefits 200 thousand people.
Education - construction of Territorial State Technical Schools from 2013 on, as a way of decentralizing the access to schooling for the impoverished and vulnerable population, attending to local productivity arrangements (APL), with a total of 7 schools built in 2016 and 7,901 benefitted students.
Health - expansion of Hospital Units, for example: construction of High Complexity Oncology Unit (UNACON) in the city of Patos, a 4.78 million investment; construction of Mamanguape city Regional Hospital and Maternity, an 11,507,667.27 reais investment; construction of Santa Rita city Metropolitan Hospital (a work in progress expected to be delivered in April 2017), and investment of 60 million reais. It will serve 60 cities and over 2 million Paraíba citizens.
Public Safety - Paraíba United for Peace Program is the biggest investment ever made in this area in the State, with structural measures and improvements through 33 million reais in investment. For some years, Paraíba was marked by a considerable growth in crime rates. After ODE-PB was implemented, Social Defense and Public Safety State Secretariat (SES) developed through its Public Audiences strategies based on the concerns voiced by the population.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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1st Obstacle: The resistance from traditional politicians who believed Democratic Budget would minimize their role in the Legislative Power.
How it was solved: Establishing spaces for Legislative Power to approach Public Audiences in all 14 Geo-administrative Regions.
2nd Obstacle: The historical lack of credibility in the Public Administration by the population.
How it was solved: Through a systematic work of articulation, mobilization and formation visits made by State Democratic Budget Executive Secretariat along with Social Movements of Urban Reformation, Dam victims, Rural Worker's Union, Women, Black people, LGBT people, Indigenous people, Artisanal Fishermen, Quilombo residents, Gypsies, Youth, Artisans, Elderly groups, and non-governmental organizations.
3rd Obstacle: The lack of indicators to guide Popular Demands execution regarding Budgeting Tools
How it was solved: Creating Themed Axes from what was voiced by the people in the Regional Audiences, which allowed the creation of Intersectoral Public Policies.
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