How Brazil is Widening Public Participation

SUMMARY
Public participation is the cornerstone of effective governance, leading to better decision-making, improved public services, and more equitable outcomes. Building on its deep-rooted tradition of engaging the public, the government of Brazil has launched Brasil Participativo, a platform that combines traditional forms of citizen engagement into federal policy-making.

Public participation is the cornerstone of effective governance, leading to better decision-making, improved public services, and more equitable outcomes. Brazil has a deep-rooted tradition of engaging the public in policy-making, enabling federal and state institutions to use citizen participation as a tool to address social and political exclusion.

Introducing Brasil Participativo

In 2023, Brazil launched the Brasil Participativo platform. Brasil Participativo is a digital channel that serves as a centralized, sustainable, and modern gateway for citizens to engage in federal policy-making. By integrating traditional offline mechanisms with a digital-first approach, it empowers citizens to voice their views and contribute to decisions on critical issues such as health, infrastructure, the environment, and the economy.

Renato Simões, National Secretary of Social Participation at the Presidency of the Republic explains that, “Brazil, once a global reference in social participation, is stepping up again—to address today’s complex domestic and international challenges through dialogue, human rights, and citizen engagement.”

Building Brasil Participativo

The government, with the help of reformers, oversaw the creation of the Brasil Participativo platform through Decidim, an open-source software managed by Barcelona City Council. The platform was designed with a “mobile-first” approach, reflecting Brazil’s digital landscape, where 161.4 million people access the internet, primarily via mobile devices.

Recognizing that most civic engagement in Brazil occurs in person, the team designed Brasil Participativo to integrate both digital and in-person participation seamlessly. The goal of embedding both elements was to overcome unequal participation, with some communities and movements having less access to the internet.

Carla Bezerra, Director of Digital Participation and Network Communication at the Secretariat of Social Participation in the Presidency, and lead of the team implementing Brasil Participativo noted, “We ensured that online and in-person activities complement each other, acknowledging how citizens already engage digitally in their daily lives.”

How it Works

Once logged in, users can participate in online deliberations and voting processes, alongside access to public consultations, in-person events, and federal participation opportunities.

The platform’s flexibility allows organizers to tailor participation methods. Bezerra explained, “You may elect delegates directly from the digital to the national level. You may discuss proposals within a digital conference. You may use it for scheduling and communication as well.”

One notable example of its impact was during the preparation of the 2024–2027 Multi-Year Plan (PPA), which outlines the government policies, plans, and initiatives. Through Brasil Participativo, the participatory process generated 8,254 citizen proposals, with the platform being accessed 4 million times. Of these proposals, 76 percent were incorporated into the Plan, with 58 percent fully integrated and 14 percent partially included.

Expanding Social Participation Nationwide

Brasil Participativo is only the beginning. To become a lasting hub for active engagement, the platform must establish deep roots, ensuring it remains a natural space for public participation.

Plans are underway to scale Brasil Participativo at state and municipal levels, aiming to provide a sustainable and widely accessible public participation service. With the potential to reach over 150 million Brazilians, future enhancements may embed digital participation into everyday public services.

Goals for the short-term include:

• Registering 3,000,000 active users by 2027, consolidating it as the Federal Government’s public participation platform.
• Offering Brasil Participativo as a Software-as-a-Service to other federal entities by the end of 2025.
• Integrating Brasil Participativo into GOV.BR service journeys to expand feedback mechanisms and participation processes.

The government also plans to integrate Brasil Participativo into Brazil’s broader digital governance framework. While currently hosted by a public enterprise with university support, Bezerra notes that a more permanent legal structure may be necessary. However, she stresses that true success lies in widespread adoption: “We want people to fully engage with the system—participating in conferences, councils, and maintaining active involvement—supported not just by the government, but by civil society as well.”

By engaging various federal public administration bodies and social sectors in the participation agenda, the goal is to ensure that public policies reflect society’s demands, particularly by engaging with the most vulnerable groups affected by Brazil’s structural inequalities, primarily related to race, gender, and income.

Brazil’s Commitment to Open Government

Brasil Participativo is more than a platform—it underscores Brazil’s commitment to deepening democracy, empowering citizens, and making the government more open and responsive. Brasil Participativo is one of several interconnected actions embedded in Brazil’s Open Gov Challenge commitment, Federal Strategy for Social Participation and Popular Education, that seeks to place citizens at the heart of policy-making. By bridging digital innovation, the strategy demonstrates the leadership of the national government in coordinating efforts across ministries, civil society, and the general public to advance participatory spaces and expand mechanisms for dialogue, political education, and reduce structural inequalities that limit civic engagement. Brazil is laying the foundation for a future where every citizen has a voice in shaping the policies that impact their lives.

Simões explains how Brazil faces “new challenges, and these new challenges require new solutions. That’s why this is not just a government of reconstruction; it is a government that seeks to enhance the quality of participation and the effectiveness of the government’s response to that participation.

As Brazil prepares to co-chair the Open Government Partnership in October 2025, their successful implementation of the Open Gov Challenge is an opportunity to inspire other nations by showcasing how digital tools can breathe new life through public participation.