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.