Transparency and Oversight in Infrastructure Repair Processes (BR0105)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Brazil National Action Plan 2018-2021
Action Plan Cycle: 2018
Status: Active
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of Transparency and Comptroller General of Brazil – CGU
Support Institution(s): Ministry of Transparency and Comptroller General of Brazil – CGU Government Secretariat of the Presidency of Republic – SEGOV/PR Chief of Staff of the Presidency of the Republic Ministry of National Integration - MI Renova Foundation Human Rights Clinic/UFMG Environmental Services Management Lab/UFMG Conectas
Policy Areas
Capacity Building, E-Government, Infrastructure & Transport, Public Participation, Public Service Delivery, SubnationalIRM Review
IRM Report: Brazil Design Report 2018-2020
Starred: Pending IRM Review
Early Results: Pending IRM Review
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information , Civic Participation , Technology
Implementation i
Completion: Pending IRM Review
Description
Commitment 6: Implement instruments and transparency actions, access to information and the development of capacities to expand and qualify the participation and public oversight over the repair processes.
Lead government institution Ministry of Transparency and Comptroller General of Brazil – CGU
Civil servant in charge for implementing at lead government institution Adenísio Álvaro de Souza
Position - Department General Coordinator/Federative Cooperation and Public oversight Coordination
E-mail adenisio.souza@cgu.gov.br
Telephone (61) 2020-6516
Other involved actors Government Ministry of Transparency and Comptroller General of Brazil – CGU
Government Secretariat of the Presidency of Republic – SEGOV/PR
Chief of Staff of the Presidency of the Republic
Ministry of National Integration - MI
Civil Society Renova Foundation
Human Rights Clinic/UFMG
Environmental Services Management Lab/UFMG
Conectas
Status quo or problem/issue to be addressed Lack of efficient communication, participation and public oversight over the repair process
Main objective Promote transparency, public oversight and access to information with people involved on the repair process.
Commitment short description Promote transparency and public oversight actions over the repair process of Mariana as well as at other municipalities in the region, due to dam ruptures.
OGP Challenge addressed by the Commitment Support civic participation
Commitment relevance Ensure that the affected people be informed about the operations related to the repair process.
Goal Increase the society participation and promote public oversight actions on the Marianas repair process as well as in other municipalities involved by dam ruptures.
Situation Initiated in October 2018
Results description Not available
Implemented until July/2020
Verifiable and measurable milestones to fulfill the Commitment Start date: End date: Responsible:
1. Mapping process to identify requested information, on the Transparency Portal, coming from the affected ones and its Municipalities
10/01/2018
11/30/2018 Renova*
SEGOV/CT – CPDCS (Technical Communication, Participation, Dialogues and Public oversight Chamber)
2. Development of the Renovas Transparency Portal, with accessible language, prioritizing data in open formats.
12/01/2018
07/31/2019
Renova Foundation*
3. Held of dissemination campaigns over the Transparency Portal
08/01/2019
07/31/2020 Renova Foundation*
CGU/MI
CDH-UFMG
4. Viability study over the establishment of a technical scientific knowledge repository
10/01/2018
07/31/2019
Chief of Staff Office/PR*
5. Promote training over transparency and access to information for managers and technicians, on affected states and municipalities
01/01/2019
12/31/2019
CGU*
Renova Foundation
SEGOV
6. Promote training to the affected ones in order to promote monitoring processes over public policies in articulation to technical advisory services
08/01/2019
06/30/2020
CGU*
SEGOV
7. Training workshops about risks managing over dam ruptures to the Municipalities City Halls
01/01/2019
12/31/2019
Ministry of National Integration*
IRM Midterm Status Summary
6. Transparency and Public Oversight over Mariana’s Reparation Processes and Other Municipalities in the Region
Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:
“Promote transparency, public oversight and access to information with people involved on the repair process.”
6.1. Mapping process to identify requested information, on the Transparency Portal, coming from the affected ones and its Municipalities
6.2. Development of the Renova’s Transparency Portal, with accessible language, prioritizing data in open formats
6.3. Held of dissemination campaigns over the Transparency Portal
6.4. Viability study over the establishment of a technical scientific knowledge repository
6.5. Promote training over transparency and access to information for managers and technicians, on affected states and municipalities
6.6. Promote training to the affected ones in order to promote monitoring processes over public policies in articulation to technical advisory services
6.7. Training workshops about risks managing over dam ruptures to the Municipalities City Halls
Start Date: January 2018 End Date: July 2020
Editorial note: to see the complete text, visit https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/brazil-national-action-plan-2018-2020/.
Context and Objectives
In 2015, a privately owned dam broke, destroying Mariana city and its surroundings and killing 19 people. [36] The Samarco disaster is described as one of the worst environmental disasters in Brazil’s recent history. [37] Samarco exposed the complex legal system and policy aspects surrounding disaster recovery in Brazil, [38] including the challenge of claiming damages, holding government and private sector actors responsible, coordinating collective claims, and evaluating the impact of public policies in areas such as labor and environment. This commitment aims to promote transparency, public oversight, and access to information regarding these recovery processes.
Citizen monitoring is vital to ensure an effective disaster recovery process and to avoid future disasters, a threat identified for other dams in the region. [39] Sadly, a similar disaster, the Vale disaster, occurred in the region in 2019, killing more than 200 people in the city of Brumadinho. [40] The commitment proposes mapping information requests from the Transparency Portal initiated by those affected by the Samarco disaster. The portal was deployed as a joint project by government and civil society (Milestone 6.1). [41]
The commitment also involves developing and launching a thematic transparency portal, in partnership with the civil society organizations (CSOs) in charge of the portal (as authorized by the government). [42] This portal would group the information and activities already done for recovery in certain areas and among certain populations. The new portal will include technical, scientific knowledge and use open data standards (6.2–6.4). Similarly, it will train citizens to use the portal to prevent future disasters (6.5–6.7).
The commitment is specific enough to be verifiable. It has a component related to the dissemination of information to the public (e.g., information on repairs is published online) and another component of civic participation (e.g., the government has empowered civil society to run the initiative).
Raquel Aparecida Pereira from the Comptroller-General’s Office of the Union (CGU) [43] notes the commitment’s contribution to transparency through aspects related to freedom of information, civic participation, and the use of established councils, including those directly related to subnational administrations. Valdênia Santos Souza (also CGU) commends the commitment’s impact on public accountability, [44] arguing that access to information in such contexts leads to opportunities for social control.
Nevertheless, according to IRM standards, in order for a commitment to be relevant to public accountability, it must effectively provide a mechanism for government to justify its actions. This commitment does not fulfill that requirement. As argued by both sources, however, the access to information and civic participation activities do promote citizen use of the governmental process of damage repairs, either by easing access to public information or by offering contact channels to start the process outside of the portal.
The innovations of this commitment include a formal collaboration agreement between the Renova Foundation, a CSO established to address the Samarco disaster, and the CGU. The commitment also allows any user of the portal to suggest policies and encourages new forms of civic participation. [45]
The commitment has a moderate potential impact. Its objective mainly aims to improve public accountability, but the milestones are restricted to access to information and capacity building activities. Additionally, the fact that the Renova Foundation, and the portal, date prior to the start of the commitment makes it difficult to evaluate what the contribution of the commitment will be during the action plan period. However, the broad scope of the commitment should be noted. It includes a wide range of partners from civil society and government. In addition, the activities listed in the portal related not only to the Samarco disaster but also to other natural events that have taken place in the region.
The transparency portals and collaborative mechanisms will allow civil society not only to monitor the recovery, but also to partner with the government in assessing affected individuals requiring compensation. This will accelerate the process and allow civil society to act as witness to the recovery progress. These are innovations for Brazil. For example, before the commitment, all victims had to individually gather resources and sue for relief, despite being members of the same family. The main new portal allows families to seek relief en masse. Another transformation is the capacity of both portals to advertise events and align stakeholders, thereby increasing the efficiency of repairs. In terms of transparency, both portals track which materials are scarce. This is important given the recurring nature of such disasters in the region.
Next steps
The commitment should be prioritized in future action plans. Similar threats to dams and other environmental disasters could be monitored. The innovations from this commitment can strengthen open government initiatives in disaster recovery and mitigation. One key area of improvement is to shift action on environmental disasters from being reactive to being proactive. This can be done, for example, by promoting civic participation activities for specifically monitoring public or private infrastructure.
To increase the commitment’s potential impact, its milestones could highlight activities conducted by the Renova Foundation portal. These activities include establishing on-site offices to guide civic monitoring and repairs in the region, creating accountability materials, constructing budget transparency tools, and documenting best practices for future use.
Commitments
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Subnational Good Governance
BR0100, 2018, Capacity Building
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Open Data Policy
BR0101, 2018, Access to Information
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Scientific Data Governance
BR0102, 2018, Access to Information
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Capacity-Building and Oversight on Nutrition Policy
BR0103, 2018, Capacity Building
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Transport Data
BR0104, 2018, E-Government
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Transparency and Oversight in Infrastructure Repair Processes
BR0105, 2018, Capacity Building
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Increase Participation in Legislative Process
BR0106, 2018, Capacity Building
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Urban and Rural Land Registers
BR0107, 2018, E-Government
-
Climate Change Policy Evaluation
BR0108, 2018, E-Government
-
Water Resource Management
BR0109, 2018, Capacity Building
-
National Electronic System/ATI implementation
BR0110, 2018, Access to Information
-
Open Data on the Federal Government
BR0084, 2016, Access to Information
-
Transparency of Public Funds
BR0085, 2016, Capacity Building
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Access to Information Policy in the Federal Government – Promptness and Effectiveness to Information Requests
BR0086, 2016, Access to Information
-
Access to Information Policy in the Federal Government – Requesters’ Personal Information Safeguard
BR0087, 2016, Access to Information
-
Effectiveness of National Policy for Social Participation Mechanisms
BR0088, 2016, Capacity Building
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Digital Educational Resources
BR0089, 2016, Capacity Building
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Open Data and Information Governance in Health
BR0090, 2016, Access to Information
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Prevention to Torture and Mean, Inhuman, or Humiliating Treatments in the Penitentiary System
BR0091, 2016, Access to Information
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Innovation Spaces for Management in Public Services
BR0092, 2016, Capacity Building
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Assessment and Streamline of Public Services
BR0093, 2016, E-Government
-
Open Innovation and Transparency in the Legislative
BR0094, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Fostering Open Government in States and Municipalities
BR0095, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Transparency and Innovation in the Judiciary
BR0096, 2016, Access to Justice
-
Social Participation in Federal Government’S Planning Cycle
BR0097, 2016, E-Government
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Open Data and Active Transparency in Environment Issues
BR0098, 2016, Access to Information
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Mapping and Participatory Management for Culture
BR0099, 2016, Access to Information
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Probity Defense and Asset Recovery
BR0033, 2013, Anti-Corruption
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Development of a Methodology for Social Participation on the Monitoring of the Pluriannual Plan (PPA) and on the Formulation of the Federal Public Budget
BR0034, 2013, Capacity Building
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Development of the Monitoring System for the Social Movements Demands
BR0035, 2013, Capacity Building
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Capacity-Building of Educators, Political Agents, Public Managers, Councilors for Social Policies and Community Leaderships
BR0036, 2013, Capacity Building
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Encourage States and Municipalities to Endorse the OGP Four Principles
BR0037, 2013, Capacity Building
-
Implementation of the ODP.Nano
BR0038, 2013, Fiscal Openness
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Strengthening of the Office of the Comptroller General (CGU)
BR0039, 2013, Anti-Corruption
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Online Accountability of Resources for Education Within the National Fund for Education Development
BR0040, 2013, E-Government
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Generation of Knowledge and Capacity-Building of Managers and Public Resources Operator’S Partners and of Councilors for Social Control
BR0041, 2013, Capacity Building
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National Program for Strengthening School Councils
BR0042, 2013, Capacity Building
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Development of a Unified and Interactive Information Panel on the Implementation of the Water for All Program, Which Can Be Publicly Accessed Through the Internet
BR0043, 2013, Capacity Building
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Digital Inclusion of Health Councils
BR0044, 2013, E-Government
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Development of Tools for Increasing Transparency and Enhancing Land Governance
BR0045, 2013, E-Government
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Implementation of the Document Management Policy in the Federal Government
BR0046, 2013, Capacity Building
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Development of the “Access to Information Library”
BR0047, 2013, Access to Information
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Disclosure of Data from the Execution of the Union Budget and from Government Purchases
BR0048, 2013, Access to Information
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Dissemination of the Public Open Data Culture to the Local Governments
BR0049, 2013, Access to Information
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Development of Support Technologies and Licensing Models for the Disclosure of Open Data
BR0050, 2013, Access to Information
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Disclosure of Information from Government Systems in an Open Data Format
BR0051, 2013, Access to Information
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Corporative Information Management in Social Security (E-Governance)
BR0052, 2013, E-Government
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Improvement of Active Transparency and of the Unique Health System’ Ombudsman Unit
BR0053, 2013, Access to Justice
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Strengthening of the National Audit System of the Unique Health System (SUS)
BR0054, 2013, Anti-Corruption
-
Increasing Public Transparency of the Labor Relations Secretariat of the Ministry of Labor and Employment
BR0055, 2013, E-Government
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Disclosure of Recommendations to Carry Out Public Audiences to Serve as Reference for the Government
BR0056, 2013, Capacity Building
-
Development of a Database of the Federal Public Administration Purchases Prices
BR0057, 2013, Anti-Corruption
-
Participatory Audits on the Constructions of Brazilian Host Cities for the 2014 FIFA World Cup
BR0058, 2013, Anti-Corruption
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Development of an Indicators Model for Transparency of Brazilian Municipalities Institutional Development
BR0059, 2013, Capacity Building
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Development of a Brazilian Portal for the Open Government Partnership (OGP)
BR0060, 2013, E-Government
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Development of Monitoring Reports on the Electronic Citizen Information System (e-SIC)
BR0061, 2013, Access to Information
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Encouragement of Social Participation
BR0062, 2013, Anti-Corruption
-
Formulation and Implementation of the Ministry of Defense’S Information Management Policy
BR0063, 2013, Records Management
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Development of a Database of Administrative Documents Produced by Brazil’S Navy
BR0064, 2013, Public Participation
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Open Educational Data
BR0065, 2013, Access to Information
-
Improvement of Data Transparency from the National Consumer Protection Information System (Sindec)
BR0066, 2013, Access to Information
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Restructuring of the Brazilian Federal Government Transparency Portal
BR0067, 2013, Access to Information
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Electronic System for Public Consultations
BR0068, 2013, E-Government
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Improvement of Health Services Through the Increased Use of the National Health Card
BR0069, 2013, Health
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Participatory Development of the Federal Ombudsman System
BR0070, 2013, Justice
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“Brazil Transparent” Program
BR0071, 2013, Access to Information
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Development of the Unique Health System Letter
BR0072, 2013, Health
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Digital Cities Project
BR0073, 2013, E-Government
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Development of the National System for the Promotion of Racial Equality (SINAPIR)
BR0074, 2013, Human Rights
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Improvement of Mechanisms for Social Participation in the Formulation of Public Policies
BR0075, 2013, Public Participation
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Brazilian Portal for Social Participation
BR0076, 2013, E-Government
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Open Data in the Ministry of Justice
BR0077, 2013, Access to Information
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Improvement of the Pro-Ethics Company Registry
BR0078, 2013, Private Sector
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Expansion of the Database of the National Debarment List (CEIS):
BR0079, 2013, Anti-Corruption
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Monitoring of the National Plan for Food and Nutrition Security (PLANSAN)
BR0080, 2013, Health
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Development of an Information System on the Maria Da Penha Law (Law No. 11,340/2006)
BR0081, 2013, Gender
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Development of Processes for Prior Consultation Under the 169 Convention of the International Labour Organization’S (ILO)
BR0082, 2013, Labor
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Redesign of the Current Protection Programs
BR0083, 2013, Access to Justice
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Capacity Building Programs
BR0001, 2011, Access to Information
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Distance Education Program
BR0002, 2011, Access to Information
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Guide for Public Officials on Access to Information
BR0003, 2011, Access to Information
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Information Services Model
BR0004, 2011, Access to Information
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Diagnostic Study on the Transparency Values of Executive Branch
BR0005, 2011, Access to Information
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Diagnostic Study on Role of Federal Ombudsman Units (FOUs)
BR0006, 2011, Access to Information
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Research Study to Identify the Demands of Society in Regard to Access to Information
BR0007, 2011, Access to Information
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Preparation of a Catalogue of Public Data and Information
BR0008, 2011, Capacity Building
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Organization of a Meeting of the Inter-Council Forum Multi-Year Plan 2012–15 (Phase 2)
BR0009, 2011, Capacity Building
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Organization of the 1st National Conference on Transparency and Social Control (1St Consocial)
BR0010, 2011, Capacity Building
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Organization of the 1st National Open Data Meeting
BR0011, 2011, Access to Information
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Organization of the National Seminar on Social Participation
BR0012, 2011, Capacity Building
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Partnership with the Digital Culture Laboratory
BR0013, 2011, Access to Information
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Partnership with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Brazil
BR0014, 2011, Access to Information
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Development of the National Open Data Infrastructure (INDA)
BR0015, 2011, Access to Information
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INDA Capacity Building Plan
BR0016, 2011, Access to Information
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INDA Awareness- Raising Activities
BR0017, 2011, Access to Information
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Launch of the Brazil Open Data Portal
BR0018, 2011, Access to Information
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Resource Transfer Agreements and Contract System (SICONV)
BR0019, 2011, Access to Information
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Aquarius Platform
BR0020, 2011, Access to Information
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Data Warehouse
BR0021, 2011, E-Government
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Restructuring the Transparency Portal
BR0022, 2011, Access to Information
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Facilitate Access to Specific Databases
BR0023, 2011, E-Government
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Interactive School Development Plan
BR0024, 2011, E-Government
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Control Panel for the Integrated Monitoring and Oversight System (Public Module)
BR0025, 2011, E-Government
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United Suppliers Registry (SICAF)
BR0026, 2011, Access to Information
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Registry of National Education Prices
BR0027, 2011, Anti-Corruption
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Contractual Management of IT Services
BR0028, 2011, Anti-Corruption
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Implementation of Pro-Ethics Company Registry
BR0029, 2011, Private Sector
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Systemic Integration of Ombudsman Units
BR0030, 2011, Access to Justice
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Continued Training for Public Ombudsman Units
BR0031, 2011, Access to Justice
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Public Services Portal
BR0032, 2011, Access to Information