Brazilian Portal for Social Participation (BR0076)

to develop a Portal with the aim of disclosing information on opportunities for social participation in the federal level and of stimulating the creation of communities for discussing topics related to citizen participation. The Portal is part of the development of the National Policy for Social Participation.

Commitment 3.8. Brazilian Portal for Social Participation

Commitment Text: To develop a Portal with the aim of disclosing information on opportunities for social participation in the federal level and of stimulating the creation of communities for discussing topics related to citizen participation. The Portal is part of the development of the National Policy for Social Participation.  

Responsible institution: General Secretariat of the Presidency

Supporting institution: None

Start date: Not specified                          End date: 14 December 2014

Commitment aim

The goal of the commitment was to develop a virtual platform to carry out innovative participation practices, and to open up a space for citizens and organisations, including those within the government, to debate.

Status

Midterm: Completed

The commitment resulted in the creation of the Participa.br portal, which contains interactive and participatory functions for public consultation, as well as virtual screen casting for the transmission of conferences, events, and meetings. The site has become a repository of knowledge about social participation that was previously dispersed across the network. Some of the participation features available in previous portals were expanded upon by Participa.br. For additional details, please see the IRM Midterm Progress Report.

Did it open government?

Civic participation: Outstanding

The portal is ambitious as its technological innovation improves citizen involvement in the development of public policies. The portal allows for debate and discussion in Thematic Communities, which include both government and civil society participants. In addition, people can learn about social participation on the site, and exchange comments and questions in real-time through the integrated Google Hangout function.

By October 2015, the site contained 39 active communities (i.e., with at least one existing participation thread), and more than 13,500 users who produced 400,000 comments via more than 6 million logins.^{[Note 103: Abner da Costa Peixoto, “Instrumentos da Democracia Participativa: Um estudo sobre o Participa.br e o Dialoga Brasil,” 2015, http://bit.ly/2i4EyMa. ]} The portal was used to involve citizens in important activities, such as the Regulatory Framework of Civil Society Organisations, the National Policy for Social Participation, and the Federal Public Ombudsmen. The platform was also used for consulting citizens on Internet governance. In the course of one month, it received 295 proposals and more than 280,000 votes.^{[Note 104: Secretary General of the Presidency, Public Consultation results, http://bit.ly/2o4tNef. ]}

The public reacted positively to the site. A study carried out in 2014 found that nearly half of all registered users (44%) actively participated on the portal. Seventy-four percent of those users believed that public participation in national policy had clearly improved as a result of their interactions on the site.^{[Note 105: Grazielle Machado Fernanda, UNDP, Project BRA/12/018 – desenvolvimento de Metodologias de articulação e gestão de políticas públicas para promoção da democracia participativa, produto 6, http://bit.ly/2jt1SUf. ]} While researchers have pointed out areas for improvement, such as user friendliness,^{[Note 106: Raphael dos Santos Pinto, “Avaliação de Sistemas de Particiação Social Online,” August 2016, http://bsi.uniriotec.br/tcc/201608Pinto.pdf.]} the involvement of government administrators,^{[Note 107: Vanderlei de Menezes Souza, “Plataforma Participa.br: Um Estudo Sobre a Participação Social na Formação das Políticas Públicas,” 2014, http://bit.ly/2nbFlh6. ]} and overly complex threads,^{[Note 108: Abner da Costa Peixoto, “Instrumentos da Democracia Participativa: Um estudo sobre o Participa.br e o Dialoga Brasil,” 2015, http://bit.ly/2i4EyMa.]} they all agree that the system is effective in bringing together civil society and government to co-develop policies. According to a survey of users, 56% of respondents thought that citizen participation on the platform influenced public policies, at least to a large extent.^{[Note 109: Vanderlei de Menezes Souza, “Plataforma Participa.br: Um Estudo Sobre a Participação Social na Formação das Políticas Públicas,” 2014, http://bit.ly/2nbFlh6.]} In addition, the Head of Technology at ThoughtWorks Latin America praised the initiative for creating a platform for social participation while using open software, and emphasised expansion of Internet access in Brazil as the next step to ensuring greater access to these new mediums.^{[Note 110: “Participa.br é destaque na Conferência Latino-Americana de Software Livre,” 20 October 2014, http://bit.ly/2oJBbKs.]}   

Carried forward?

This commitment was carried forward to Brazil’s third action plan. The latter includes a commitment on improving free access to technological tools for social participation. Going forward, the IRM researcher recommends further promoting Participa.br inside and outside of government to strengthen and expand the base of participants.