4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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which ways is the initiative creative and innovative? (200 palavras)
The initiative is innovative because no Federative Unit in Brazil has such a tool to transfer resources or donate goods to the cities through public call notices, with no financial counterweight.
The initiative is also creative because it fomented Solidary Counterpart, which laid down, through a term of commitment, indicators and targets to be achieved throughout the cities with actions aimed towards the social development of communities, prioritizing the most vulnerable populations and universalizing public resources to all Paraíba regions, as well as aligning with the 2030 Agenda's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
From its 2013 edition, the Social Pact created an information management platform called "SGI-PACTO", which is defined by classifying the users by type (state or city) and area (education, health, social, the State Secretariat of Development and Municipal Articulation – SEDAM, the State Controller General, the Governor's Office and the State Court of Auditors – TCE), enabling a wider access to transparency in the utilization of public resources to the population.
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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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The initiative was implemented by the State Government of Paraíba, through the State Secretariat of Development and Municipal Articulation (SEDAM), covering 96% of Paraíba's cities (215 in total) and serving a population of 2.6 million residents, which represents 65% of all Paraíba population.
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6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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Based on a diagnostic approach and on what the 2010 indicators showed, Paraíba Sate Government implemented, by way of a legal landmark, a strategy to help improve citizens' lives.
The first administrative attitude was to edit Provisory Measure 160, creating the State Democratic Budget (ODE) with the purpose of carrying out plenaries in all 14 geo-administrative regions of Paraíba to converse directly with the population in an effort to collect demands for government actions and programs, consolidating and assuring structural works into the Pluri-Annual Investment Plan (PPA) of 2102-2015, as well as to make necessary adjustments to the Annual Budgeting Law (LOA) and the Budgeting Guidelines Law (LDO).
ODE soon became an important instrument to empower the people, as it gave the opportunity of free expression to all the actors involved. ODE's audience cycle is performed annually in all 14 regions, and the demands presented as systematized and forwarded to the respective secretariats responsible for the actions.
After that, through Law 9.350, dated April 12th of 2011, the Government created the State Secretariat of Development and Municipal Articulation (SEDAM) with the objective of articulating in the scope of public power all governmental programs intended for municipal social development, prioritizing the actions for those municipalities of lower MHDI (Municipal Human Development Index) scores and socializing the application of public resources in the health, education and social assistance areas.
After the dialog space was open between government managers and municipal representative entities, the State Government, through Decree 32.168 dated May 27th of 2011, created the Pact for the Social Development of Paraíba, allowing partnerships to be firmed between the State Government and the city governments by way of public call notices aiming to support the social development of the cities without financial compensation.
The innovation of the Program is in creating the Solidary Counterpart, which is firmed through a term of commitment, with previously set indicators and goals aligned with the MDGs, now SDGs.
In the first edition of the Social Pact in 2011, the main objectives set were: (1) improving the number of enrollments in the city school system (school frequency); (2) reducing illiteracy; (3) reducing child mortality; (4) increase the number of pre-natal medical appointments; (5) acquiring family agriculture produce for school meals; and (6) formulating gender oriented public policies. It should be noted that the presented objectives were aligned at the time with MDG 1 - To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; MDG 2 - To achieve universal primary education; MDG 3 - To promote gender equality and empower women; MDG 4 - To reduce child mortality; MDG 5 - To improve maternal health; MDG 6 - To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
The resources moved on the four editions of the Pact for the Social Development of Paraíba all come from the State Treasury, making up a total of R$ 133.8 million (Brazilian reais), distributed equally among the Geo-administrative Regions of Paraíba, universalizing its application.
On February 14th of 2017, by occasion of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the State Government and UNDP, to adhere to the 2030 Agenda, a new public call notice was released with an order of R$ 72 million (Brazilian reais) exclusively mobilized for investment in education. The Solidary Counterpart is the adhesion of cities to the Learning Success Program, totally aligned with SDG 4. Thus, all the resources mobilized in the six years of the Pact's existence make up a total of R$ 200 million (Brazilian reais).
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7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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• Paraíba State Government;
• State Secretariat of Planning, Budgeting and Management (SEPLAG);
• State Secretariat of Development and Municipal Articulation (SEDAM);
• State Democratic Budget (ODE);
• State Secretariat of Education;
• State Secretariat of Health;
• State Secretariat of Human Development;
• State Secretariat of Women and Human Diversity;
• City Halls;
• City Secretariats of Education;
• City Secretariats of Health;
• City Secretariats of Social Assistance;
• City Councils;
• Organized Civic Society;
• Federal Association of Cities (FAMUP);
• Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB);
• State University of Paraíba (UEPB);
• Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG);
• Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Paraíba (IFPB);
• Support Service to Micro and Small Businesses of Paraíba (SEBRAE-PB).
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8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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The success of the Program can be evaluated by the following results:
a) The Program covered 96% of Paraíba's cities;
b) The universalization of public resources application in all Paraíba territories;
c) When compared to cities outside the Pact, considering data from the Basic Education of Brazil Census run by the Ministry of Education of Brazil (MEC), the participants showed an increase in access to education with emphasis on Adult and Youth Education (EJA), which resonated in a 23% reduction on the illiteracy rate between 2010 and 2014;
d) In the health area, by data from The Ministry of Health's Information System on Living Newborns (SINASC), there was a 25% reduction on teenage pregnancy rates in 2014 and a positive effect of 4.69% on the number of pregnant women with at least 7 pre-natal medical appointments, reflecting the improvement on these women's health;
e) The Solidary Counterpart and the term of commitment firmed with the cities are totally aligned with SDGs 3 and 4.
In a comparative of socioeconomic indicators of Paraíba based on data from the Human Development in Brazil and UNDP's MHDI Radar between 2010 and 2014, in the exact period when the Social Pact was active, a significant improvement can be noticed. The Child Mortality rate (for each 1.000 living newborns) was 21,67 in 2010 and 17.97 in 2014, a -17.07% variation. The Adult Illiteracy was 23.39% in 2010 and 18.01% in 2014, a -23% variation. The Impoverished Families rate was 28.93% in 2010 and 12.95% in 2014, a -55,24% variation. The Gini index was 0,61 in 2010 and 0,51 in 2014, a -16,39% variation. And the MHDI was 0,66 in 2010 and 0,7 in 2014, a 6.06 variation. It should also be highlighted that all these indicators have improved at a faster rate that the country's average.
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9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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The obstacles may fit into two axes:
• Axis 1 – Initial format of the Program
• Axis 2 – Program Evaluation, Control and Monitoring tool
On the Social Pact's first edition in 2011, the main difficulties were to explain the Solidary Counterpart and juxtapose the terms of commitment with the indicators and city objectives, as well as the distrust of city managers, keeping in mind the political-administrative practices before 2010.
With the improvement of the Program, from its second edition (2013) forward, the Social Pact started counting with a virtual platform called "SGI-PACTO", allowing all partnership processes with the cities to be handled transparently, with efficiency and effectiveness, from the access to the public call notice, to the formalization of the agreement and monitoring its execution until the accountability reports, promoting more transparency in every intergovernmental relation between state and cities.
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