Inception Report – Action plan – São Paulo, Brazil, 2021 – 2024

Name of Evaluator

Maria Alexandra Viegas Cortez da Cunha e Gabriela Boechat

Email

gbrlboechat@gmail.com

Member Name

São Paulo, Brazil

Action PlanAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... Title

Action plan – São Paulo, Brazil, 2021 – 2024

1.1 Does a forum exist?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Since the first Action Plan, the city of São Paulo has structured the Multi-Stakeholder ForumRegular dialogue between government and civil society is a core element of OGP participation. It builds trust, promotes joint problem-solving, and empowers civil society to influence the design, imple... (Fórum de Gestão Compartilhada – FGC) with representatives from civil society and the municipal government.

The representatives of organized civil society are chosen by election. There are eight seats (with full and alternate seats), for representatives of the academic sector in the area of public management (01 seat), the private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... More (01 seat), social or popular movements (02 seats), civil society with experience in open government (02 seats), civil society in the area of innovation and technology (01 seat) and civil society in the area of public policies (01 seat).

In addition to civil society, there are eight representatives from municipal departments, selected by nomination. There is also representation from the Municipal Court of Auditors, as an observer. In this third edition of the plan, the departments were nominated only after the selection of the area of the commitments, due to their proximity or thematic affinity.

The FGC election process for the construction of the third Action Plan began in 2020 with the publication of a public notice (Edital SGM n. 02/2020) in the Municipal Register (Diário Oficial Municipal) and ended in 2021 with the publication of the selected organizations. After the public notice publication, the organization’s documentation was analyzed. Then, there was a public election through the website Participe+. The most voted organizations occupied the seats. The FGC had some changes throughout the co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive... (after six months of election), due to the restructuring of some organizations and the time dedicated. However, the organizations were replaced and the Forum was active until the end of the co-creation process.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Co-creation process activities

Provide references here (e.g. interviews):

• Evidence of the process of election and replacement of entities of the Multistakeholder Forum (process n. 6011.2020/0003680-9).
• Result of the public election on the Participate+ portal

1.2 Is the forum multi-stakeholder?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The Multi-stakeholder Forum (Fórum de Gestão Compartilhada – FGC) has 08 (eight) seats with representatives of the public power, 08 (eight) seats reserved for civil society, and 01 (one) external control agency, as an observer. Thus, it is a deliberative forum that ensures voting power parity. Below is the current composition of the Forum:

Public Sector: Controladoria Geral do Município, Secretaria Municipal da Educação, Secretaria Executiva de Gestão, Secretaria Municipal da Casa Civil, Secretaria Executiva de Planejamento e Entregas Prioritárias, Secretaria Municipal de Relações Internacionais, Secretaria Municipal de Saúde, Secretaria Municipal de Fazenda.
Civil Society: COLAB-USP (Colaboratório de Desenvolvimento e Participação), Instituto Prospectiva – Inspro, Instituto Cidades Sustentáveis, Observatório Social do Brasil – São Paulo, Rede pela Transparência e Participação Social, Coletivo Ocupa Mãe, Delibera Brasil, Fundação Álvares Penteado (FECAP).
External Control: Tribunal de Contas do Município (Municipal Court of Auditors).

The original composition of the Forum after the election included the organizations Fast Food da Política, Insper, and Instituto Escola do Povo, which were left in the course of the work. Chosen by the Multistakeholder Forum itself and corroborated by the Interdepartmental Committee for Open Government of the city of São Paulo (Comitê Intersecretarial de Governo Aberto da cidade de São Paulo), the following organizations were selected to occupy the vacant seats: Auspin (Agência Usp de Inovação), Coletivo Ocupa Mãe and Fundação Álvares Penteado (FECAP). In addition, the Secretaria de Governo Municipal was replaced by the Secretaria Municipal da Casa Civil, due to the reallocation of the Open Government Sector of the city between the departments.

Provide evidence for your answer:

The current composition, after substitutions of entities, of the Forum can be seen in the publication of the Official Gazette of the city of São Paulo on June 18, 2021.

1.3 Does the forum hold at least one meeting with civil society and non-governmental stakeholders during the co-creation of the action plan?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

By the end of the co-creation process, twelve meetings of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum had been held. In addition to these alignment meetings, the Forum members (government and civil society) divided themselves into three Working Groups (WGs): Co-creation, Communication, and Strategic Vision. These WGs also met to debate and define the guidelines of the co-creation process. All meetings were open to public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio....

The Forum also conducted, throughout the process, open workshops aiming to create spaces for popular participation. Different actors were able to participate and contribute to the construction of the plan, such as municipal councilors, civil society experts on the themes of the workshops, street-level bureaucrats, and others.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Co-creation process activities 

Provide references here (e.g. interviews):

• Meetings and materials derived from the Forum meetings and workshops.
• Materials derived from the Co-creation WG.
• Materials derived from the Communication WG.
• Materials derived from the Strategic Visioning WG.

1.4 Has the action plan been endorsed by the stakeholders of the forum or steering committeeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru.../group?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Throughout the co-creation process, there were no major divergences concerning the commitments, which culminated in the general approval by the stakeholders.

In the last meeting of the co-creation process of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum, on September 9, 2021, the commitments and milestones were reviewed jointly by the government and civil society. The Plan was then sent to the Interdepartmental Committee for Open Government of the city of São Paulo for final approval and submission to the Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More.

Provide references here (e.g. interviews):

• Interviews were held with public authorities (Coordenadoria de Governo Aberto – Casa Civil, Controladoria Geral do Município, and Secretaria da Fazenda) and with members of the Multistakeholder Forum.
• 12th Forum Meeting (09/09/2021)

2.1 Does the government maintain a Local OGP website or webpage on a government website where information on the OGP Local process (co-creation and implementation) is proactively published?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The Coordenadoria de Governo Aberto (Open Government Coordination) has a web page with all the actions of the City of São Paulo, including the history of the previous Action Plans and the process of co-creation and implementation of the current Plan. The page is updated as activities are carried out.

Provide references here (e.g. interviews):

• Coordenadoria de Governo Aberto.
• Page with the Action Plans carried out by the São Paulo City Hall.
• Page with the 3rd Open Government Action Plan.

2.2 Did the government provide information to stakeholders in advance to facilitate informed and prepared participation in the co-creation process?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

In its first meeting of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum, the City of São Paulo provided information about the partnership between the government and the Open Government Partnership, the previous Action Plans, and explained other necessary information, such as the calendar of upcoming meetings, how the partnership works and the process of co-creation of the Plan. In the subsequent meeting members of the previous Forum were invited to share the experience of the second Action Plan with the new members.

Besides these opening meetings, the Forum kept the habit of informing participants during the first minutes of the co-creation workshops, recalling relevant information to ensure qualified participation. The City of São Paulo also made information about the co-creation process available through an online information repositoryAccess to relevant information is essential for enabling participation and ensuring accountability throughout the OGP process. An OGP repository is an online centralized website, webpage, platform or ....

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Workshop Presentation

Provide references here (e.g. interviews):

• Open Government Coordination Information Repository
• Sample presentation with information about the co-creation process
• 1st Meeting of the 3rd Forum (02/03/2021)

2.3 Did the government ensure that any interested member of the public could make inputs into the action plan and observe or have access to decision-making documentation?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The co-creation processes were participatory and open to the public, through public consultations and online workshops, from the conception of the methodology to the approval of the plan. In addition, the meetings of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum are open to people interested in contributing to the open government policy.

An important point of attention, that may have restricted the participation of other interested people, was that the process was conducted entirely online. It is understandable because this process occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, but for future co-creation processes, it should also be considered in the methodology to develop face-to-face actions to ensure capillarity and effective participation.

Finally, the City ensures that materials derived from the co-creation process, as well as meetings and workshops, are recorded and made available to the public to support decision-making.

Provide references here (e.g. interviews):

• Coordenadoria de Governo Aberto.
• Open activities performed during the co-creation process
• Invitation to participate in the workshops and public consultations published on open channels such as Instagram (example)
• Coordenadoria de Governo Aberto Information Repository

2.4 Did the government proactively report back or provide written feedback to stakeholders on how their contributions were considered during the creation of the action plan?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

During the co-creation process, the City of São Paulo, together with the Multi-Stakeholder Forum, held two public consultations on the Participe+ platform. One was related to the co-creation of the Action Plan, and the other was related to the review of the commitments and milestones that would be present in the Plan. For both consultations, the City made available feedback on each contribution for all stakeholders on the platform.

Regarding the co-creation process, the City made a form available at the end so that the members of the Forum could evaluate the implementation of the co-creation methodology.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Feedback Meeting Presentation
• Consultation Feedback: Review of Commitments and Milestones
• Consultation Feedback: Co-creation of the 3rd Plan

Provide references here (e.g. interviews):

13th Meeting of the Multistakeholder Forum

2.5 Was there an iterative dialogue and shared ownership between government and non-governmental stakeholders during the decision making process, including setting the agenda?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The co-creation process was developed jointly by governmental actors and external actors through the Multistakeholder Forum, from the conception of the methodology to decision-making, including agenda setting.

There was only one stage during the process in which civil society did not participate, but was aware of the government’s actions: the meetings with the government agencies responsible for the areas of the commitments to align the actions. This action was carried out only by the government due to the administrative nature of the action.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Co-creation activities

Provide references here (e.g. interviews):

Interviews were held with public authorities (Coordenadoria de Governo Aberto – Casa Civil, Controladoria Geral do Município e Secretaria da Fazenda) and with members of the Multistakeholder Forum.

2.6 Would you consider the forum to be inclusive and diverse?

Moderately

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The election process for the Multi-Stakeholder Forum is carried out by selecting organizations from civil society and nominating public servants from the departments that constitute the Forum. Thus, there is no selection by representatives of specific segments.

There is good genderOGP participating governments are bringing gender perspectives to popular policy areas, ensuring diversity in participatory processes, and specifically targeting gender gaps in policies to address gov... More and generational representation (young and older people), but there is an absence of black participants, participants from the LGBTIQA+ community, and people with disabilitiesA government is not open unless it is accessible to all, and governments are working to ensure people with disabilities are afforded equitable services and opportunities to participate. Technical spec....

Regarding the types of organizations, the Forum is diverse. However, even though there is a seat designated for the private sector, there was no interest in occupying it.

Provide references here (e.g. interviews):

Interviews with public authorities (Coordenadoria de Governo Aberto – Casa Civil, Controladoria Geral do Município e Secretaria da Fazenda) and with members of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum.