Public Service Innovation and Evaluation Indicators

Silvia Cruz,Sônia Paulino

doi:10.4067/s0718-27242013000300026

Abstract

This paper analyzes innovation in public services with emphasis on the application of evaluation indicators. It considers the clean development mechanism (CDM) projects developed in the Bandeirantes and Sao Joao landfills, both located in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. There are two methodological procedures. First, the analysis is based on a multi-agent innovation approach. Second, there is an adaptation of the social carbon methodology (SCM) constructing indicators to assess the social and environmental outcome of landfill CDM projects in order to identify opportunities for innovations in services related to the solid waste sector. The application of the multi-agent model for innovation in public services in the solid waste sector makes it possible to bring together the political actors, service organizations and consumers / users. Equally pertinent is the adaptation of the application of SCM, defining indicators to understand the particularities of the service in the context researched, with regard to seeking opportunities for building new ways to solve specific problems through new institutional and organizational arrangements, involving municipal governments, utility companies, communities surrounding the landfills, collectors of recyclable materials, organized bodies of civil society; and with regard to establishing parameters to guide the objectives of innovation in the public sector.

Highlights

This paper analyzes innovation in public services with emphasis on the application of evaluation indicators. It considers the clean development mechanism projects developed in the Bandeirantes and São João landfills, both located in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.These landfills were selected for this study due to the similar characteristics of the projects, and because both are located in a city of great complexity in terms of the role of local government management
The Kyoto Protocol (KP) was established in 1997, following an agreement reached at the third Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).This Protocol states that the countries included in Annex I, comprising the industrialized countries which in 1992 were Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members, and countries with developing economies, should reduce their emission levels of greenhouse gases (GHG) to targets that are mainly set below their 1990 levels, by at least 5%, over the period 2008 to 2012.At COP-18, held in Doha, Qatar, in December 2012, it was confirmed that the Kyoto Protocol would continue until 2020
clean development mechanism (CDM) is the most important mechanism in the Brazilian context, which entails the implementation in emerging and developing countries of project activities that reduce GHG emissions, resulting in certified emission reductions (CER), popularly known as ‘carbon credits’, which may be purchased by countries listed in Annex I, assisting them in part fulfillment of their targets agreed upon their ratification of the Kyoto Protocol

Summary

Introduction

This paper analyzes innovation in public services with emphasis on the application of evaluation indicators. Brazil has a significant potential for carbon credits generation in the area of landfills, given the initiatives already underway, constituting a promising opportunity to promote social and environmental sustainability in the country, supporting the appropriate solid waste management system, given that these projects need to be linked to a solid waste policy that encourages practices such as environmental education, reuse, recycling and reduction, benefiting the generation of biogas. Section two summarizes a review of the literature highlighting the potential of landfill CDM projects to contribute to the promotion of public services innovations In this same section, the public sector innovation issue is addressed and subsequently, the indicators and the development of social carbon methodology.

Literature Review

Method

Results