2023 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"

17th Edition

Phase 6 of 7

Publication Preparation 18/09/2023 - 06/11/2023

Process phases

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São Paulo: Juventude em Governo / Youth in Government

Official proposal

30/05/2023 17:37

Youth in Government emerged from a demand to expand training in open government beyond the civil service, considering Category 7 - Open Government in Schools - of the Open Government Agents Program as a previous experience in offering training to young people, which occurred, however, only within the limits of the Program.

From this, from the objectives of "Youth in Government", the empowerment of young people stands out, especially those in situations of social vulnerability, as part of the public decision making process, from mechanisms of social participation, which contribute directly to the main purpose of the project, that of improving the quality of this public decision making mechanism, engaging the participation of young people from the pillars of open government (transparency, accountability, participation and innovation and technology), promoting citizen training and a democratic culture.

The practical experience of the project took place between April 10 and 20, 2023, in partnership with the NGO Rede Cidadã (Citizen Network), whose students comprised the full audience, and with the Municipal Treasury, which provided the physical space for the course and offered the course on Tax Education and Citizenship - taught by the Working Group on Tax Education and Citizenship - and Citizen Budget - taught by the COPLAN team.

518 young people received the two modules of the course: one composed of training in open government and fiscal education and citizenship; and a second module with the presentation of the Citizen Budget and the formulation of proposals to be inserted in this mechanism via Participate+. Therefore, passive and active methodologies were used, with the concern of bringing the content closer to the daily reality of young people.

The training team uploaded all the collective proposals elaborated in Participate+, and encouraged the young people to access and vote on those they thought were important for the improvement of the city of São Paulo.

The evaluation, done through an online form and made available at the end of the course, totaled 180 answers. We highlight the questions "Had you ever heard of open government before the workshop?" and "In which ways can you use the concepts of open government in your day to day life?". Of the 180 young people, only 14 had heard of open government previously, and on the application of these concepts, the answers cited social control from the monitoring of data in open portals such as the Transparency Portal, social participation in mechanisms such as the Citizen Budget, and awareness of rights in the face of public decision making. Thus, we estimate that the objectives of connecting the concepts of open government with practical reality and the creation of a citizen culture have been achieved.

Finally, the project's follow-up should consider the reevaluation of active methodologies that include other participation mechanisms besides the Citizen's Budget, considering that this occurs only once a year. We are continuously looking for improvements and a broader range of project approaches, aiming to reach an increasingly diverse number of young people.

https://www.prefeitura.sp.gov.br/cidade/secretarias/casa_civil/relacoes_institucionais/coordenadoria_de_governo_aberto/index.php/