Brazil launches participatory national planning process

By Tarson Núñez, a People Powered mentor with the National Institute of Science and Technology Observatory of the Metropolis, Brazil, and Luiza Jardim, program associate with People Powered and PhD candidate in public administration and government at Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil.

At a time when signs of a crisis in democracy are prevalent around the world, the Brazilian government is seeking to expand and deepen the active participation of citizens in its decisions. The new administration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva believes that more democracy is needed to rebuild citizens' trust in political processes. And it just launched one of its main initiatives, the Participatory Pluriannual Plan (PPA Participativo). The PPA sets the goals and objectives for Brazil over the following four years, and Lula is determined to not only allow but facilitate public participation in its development. 

On May 11, the federal government held the first state plenary for the Participatory PPA, an assembly open to all citizens, social movements and civil society organizations. Participants at the state plenaries are able to discuss proposals and deliberate on the government's public policies. Over the next two months, government officials will travel to the capitals of the country’s 26 states as well as the federal district (the capital of Brazil) to listen to people present their priorities. If they prefer, people can also submit their suggestions through a digital platform (Decidim, accessible only to people in Brazil) or the Interconselhos Forum, which brings together various councils and civil society groups.

The online participation portal

The PPA is the main planning vehicle for all spheres of government in Brazil (federal, state and municipal) and defines the guidelines, objectives and goals of the public administration, including the priorities, main projects, allocated resources and the indicators that will be used to assess success. The plan is created in the first year of each four-year government. It is on the PPA that the annual budget guidelines and laws are based. Thus, the PPA is the starting point for the national program of participatory budgeting to come. 

The agenda for the state plenaries is available on the PPA website, where registrations are also made. As the website informs, it is after registering that people will be able to participate in the event to present new proposals and prioritize the programs prepared by the Federal Government. So far, plenary meetings have been held in eleven states, with the participation of more than 18,000 civil society representatives.

In addition to the plenary sessions, another important space is the Interconselhos Forum. Through the forum, representatives from public policy councils and civil society organizations assist in the preparation and monitoring of the PPA. Such councils were formed in the 1990s to weigh in on policies related to sectors such as health, education and urban development. In 2011, the federal government organized the Interconselhos Forum, allowing the councilors to collectively debate public policies. The forum was shut down in 2017 when the Workers Party president was impeached and Michel Temer assumed the presidency. However, Lula re-established it this year, and the forum convened in April to discuss its vision, values and thematic directions. At the second meeting this month, proposed project priorities for 2024-2027 will be presented by the team charged with gathering citizen suggestions. At a third meeting in August, forum participants will provide feedback.

The first "Forum Interconselhos"

Digital participation is the third and perhaps most significant innovation of the new process under Lula. Through a digital platform, citizens can submit their proposals to the PPA, vote on up to three proposals suggested by other residents and prioritize up to three programs presented by the government. The proposals that get the most votes will be analyzed further. So far, over 2,000 proposals have been submitted by residents and 157,500 votes for the various programs put forward by the government have been counted.

While innovative, the process presents several challenges. One is that the preparation of the PPA must be prepared by the executive branch in just a few months so that it can be presented to the legislature on August 31. When there is such haste, participation has limitations. However, it is not impossible; several states and municipalities have already carried out participatory PPA processes, such as Bahia, Alagoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Niterói (RJ) and Teresina (PI). Even so, there is tension between the technocratic dynamics of the federal bureaucracy and the introduction of participatory mechanisms. Examination is needed to assess the depth of the resulting participation and how contributions will be incorporated into the wording of the final plan presented to Congress.

Another challenge is how representative the participation is. The plenaries are being held only in the state capitals, and the online platform may exclude others due to lack of internet or device access or lack of experience in working digitally. No government strategies have been implemented to overcome these challenges. In the end, data on the participants will reveal which groups were excluded from the process, thus from proposing and prioritizing the projects for the next four years.

Thus, like any new process, the Participatory PPA requires constant monitoring and evaluation of its results. But even with these challenges, it is a crucial step toward fulfilling the campaign promise made by President-elect Lula to implement, for the first time, a participatory budget at the national level.