E-Government, Participation and Transparency of Local Government - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

E-Government, Participation and Transparency of Local Government

Othon Jambeiro Rosane Sobreira Lorena Macambira

Federal University of Bahia, Brazil

Research Context

• Brazil today: 5 macro-Regions, 26 States,

5.563 Municipalities

• The Constitution and the Cities Statute
• 1.633 Municipalities must have Master

Plan

• Advanced Studies Center for Digital

Democracy and e-Government – Ceadd

• UFBA, CNPq, Fapesb, Finep

Research Conceptual and Contextual Basis

• Democracy and Citizenship
• Transparency and efficiency of Local

Government

• Information and communication advanced

technologies, and civic participation

• Websites and Municipalities` Master Plan

Methodology

• Data collection in the Ministry of Cities and

in the Cities National Council

• Analysis of Municipalities` websites

looking for master plan exposition

• Data analysis and interpretation

Results I

• Region Northeast is the one with more

Municipalities to have master plan - 528.

• But it is also the one with less

Municipalities that expose their master plan in their websites – 25 (5%).

Results II

• Region Southeast is the one with the

biggest percentual of Municipalities that have websites both of the executive and of the legislative power:

• North – 13%
• Northeast – 20%
• South – 47%
• Midwest – 51%
• Southeast – 74%

Results III

• Regions South and Southeast have the

biggest percentual of Municipalites with at least one local government power with website:

• North – 54%
• Northeast – 67%
• Midwest – 85%
• South and Southeast – 96%

Results IV

• Disponibilization of master plan in the websites are more

frequent in the South and Southeast Regions:

• Northeast – 5% (25/528)
• North – 11% (16/149)
• Midwest – 31% (31/100)
• Southeast – 43% (227/527)
• South – 49% (162/329)
• However, note that the two last regions are the ones with

the biggest percentual of Municipalities with at least one government power with website – 96%.

Results V

• Finally, data show that only 461 (28%) of the

1.633 Municipalities studied expose their master plan in at least one of the local government power websites.

• This is a bad situation because if considered

both local government powers (executive and legislative) they have together 2.109 websites. So, the percentual number would really be 20%.

Conclusion I

• Local executive power invest more than

legislative power in the construction and use of websites to inform citizens.

• There are disparity between Brazilian regions

and states concerning the use of webpages and the disponibilization of their master plan to public access.

• Citizens of South and Southeast – richest of the

country regions - are best served in this issue.

Conclusion II

• It is still incipient the commitment with

transparency among Brazilian Municipalities.

• E-Government tools are misused and so

are not expanding civic participation in the decisory process of local governments:

– There are not stimulation for interaccion between government and citizens. – There is not intensification of citizenship exercise and democratic practice.