Monitoring Of Public Policies Research Articles

DIVISION OF FUNCTIONS WITHIN ROMANIA’S CENTRE OF GOVERNMENT: A LONG HISTORY OF REFORMS

After the fall of communist regime in Romania, the structure of Romania’s Government Working Apparatus (the Government Office) was subject to several reforms trying to establish an adequate role for each of the entities. Although the composition of the Government Working Apparatus may vary, its central piece is the General Secretariat of the Government (GSG), which, in governments with a strong prime minister, has tried to share power with the Prime Minister’s Chancellery. The aim of this paper is to explore the evolution of the reforms of the Government’s Working Apparatus (Government Office) in Romania after 2001 and how the functions between the General Secretariat of Government and the Prime Minister’s Chancellery are divided after the recent reforms within the Centre of Government in order to assure a better coordination. The methodology of this paper consists in a content analysis of the legal framework, public administration reform strategies, technical reports of some projects conducted by the General Secretariat of Romania’s Government and World Bank’s studies and reports. This paper reports aspects on a longitudinal study between 2001-2021, which set out to examine and evaluate the roles of different organisational structure within Romania’s Government Office. The empirical data of this paper were also collected through a series of discussions with top public policy makers in charge with reform of central public administration. The General Secretariat of the Government (GSG) has always possessed a central role in the structure of the Government Office, its part being to assure the technical and strategic operations regarding Government acts and to solve the organisational, judicial, economic, and technical problems of Government and prime-minister’s activity, also the representation of the Government in the justice. GSG is the element of connection and stability of governance that assures the framework for decision making process. Recently, in February 2020, the Orban Government has approved two government decisions by which both the Prime Minister’s Chancellery and the General Secretariat of the Government have been reorganised. Both measures were part of the priorities of the Government Program, namely improving the efficiency of public administration, aiming at reforming the Centre of Government. Thus, the functions of the two structures were better defined and delimited, in the sense that the General Secretariat of the Government was to provide the technical / administrative secretariat of the Government, while the Chancellery would have the role of strategic coordination. In this sense, within the Chancellery operated the Centre for Analysis and Strategy and the Independent Scientific Council, while subordinated to the General Secretariat of the Government were the institutions which were to provide data and information to the Chancellery for analysis and studies that would underpin public policy programs. The essential role of the Chancellery thus became to coordinate the ministries in the process of elaboration and monitoring of the institutional strategic plans, to approve the governmental strategies, precisely to ensure the correlation of these strategies, as well as to correlate the elaboration, implementation and monitoring of public policies. Unfortunately, this reform was implemented only for a short period of time and nowadays, in January 2021, when a new prime-minister has come, the role of the Chancellery was diminished once again. Its role was focused on communication and relation with media and on the coordination, at the level of the Government Office, of the reform process regarding public administration and relation with civil society and social partners.

AGENDA POLÍTICA HACIA EL BIENESTAR Y LA COHESIÓN SOCIAL EN EL GOBIERNO DE LA CUARTA TRANSFORMACIÓN EN MÉXICO

The study of political communication that occurs from social networks has focused almost exclusivelyon the effectiveness of these platforms as electoral tools.However, the understanding of what we can understand as a public and political digital place, fromwhich inputs can be obtained to improve the decision and design processes and monitoring of publicpolicies, seems to be still unattended.This study aims to argue the existence of a “digital political territory”, where it is not only possibleto deploy political action, but it is also possible to find -recognize and analyze, by means of big datatechniques- deliberative elements of the politic discussion, which could serve as inputs for public actionsand decisions (beyond merely electoral ones).For this we identified six specific characteristics, whose cumulative presence would make up the digitalpolitical territory, and we argued that it would only be on Twitter where we can find those characte-ristics.

DESENVOLVIMENTO E VALIDAÇÃO DO INVENTÁRIO DE CARACTERIZAÇÃO DE AMBIENTES PARA A EDUCAÇÃO INICIAL

In this study, the psychometric properties of the Environment Characterization Inventory for Early Education (INCA-EI), and the effect of socioeconomic context and type of institution on the quality of environments were evaluated. 142 early education classrooms were evaluated. The analysis of Unidimensionality for the Structure Dimension and the CFA for the Process Dimension showed a good fit of the items to the Structure sub-dimensions (p>.05; CFI ≥.90; RMSEA<.08), validating the organization of three correlated factors in the Process sub-dimensions (χ²=323.82; RMSEA=.06; CFI=.96; TLI=.96). The instrument presents good values of internal consistency (α =.88; ω =.93), and moderate to considerable agreements in the majority of scores in the inter-rater reliability analysis (ICC=.80). Differences are presented between the quality of the environment of schools and kindergartens and Institutions of different socioeconomic contexts. The results show that INCA-EI is a valid and reliable instrument for the evaluation of environments in early education, which can be used for research purposes and monitoring of public policies.

Monitoreo de políticas públicas Un ejercicio inicial para el caso de México

Through the monitoring of public policies, governments can generate useful information to correct, adjust or confirm them, thus enhancing the achievement of better results, in a simple and cost-effective way. In Latin America, public policy monitoring efforts are still incipient and focused, but it is considered that they can be enhanced with simple and low-cost schemes. In 2012 in Mexico, for the first time, indicators were included in the national development planning. For the 2018-2024 administration, monitoring of public policies will be based on the objectives set out in the sectoral plans. This document highlights the importance of monitoring public policies, listing the advantages and benefits, and describing the main stages the Mexican government went through for the construction of result indicators to monitor main social problems. Moreover, the document shows the results of around 100 indicators on issues related to economic well-being, health, science and technology, education and environment.

POR QUÉ ES TWITTER EL TERRITORIO POLÍTICO DIGITAL

The study of political communication that occurs from social networks has focused almost exclusivelyon the effectiveness of these platforms as electoral tools.However, the understanding of what we can understand as a public and political digital place, fromwhich inputs can be obtained to improve the decision and design processes and monitoring of publicpolicies, seems to be still unattended.This study aims to argue the existence of a “digital political territory”, where it is not only possibleto deploy political action, but it is also possible to find -recognize and analyze, by means of big datatechniques- deliberative elements of the politic discussion, which could serve as inputs for public actionsand decisions (beyond merely electoral ones).For this we identified six specific characteristics, whose cumulative presence would make up the digitalpolitical territory, and we argued that it would only be on Twitter where we can find those characte-ristics.

Vertikalna segregacija u visokom obrazovanju - studija slučaja Republike Srbije

The gender role hierarchy in the Republic of Serbia is an inspirational topic on several grounds: first, this is a specific issue within a wider gender equality problem, which has recently become the priority of structural reforms; second, it is a separate segment of gender segregation, the research issue unjustifiably ignored by the domestic academic community; finally, it is just a piece of the 'puzzle' that reflects the situation in the gender inequality field, but exactly the one which neither national nor European statistics provide detailed information for. The above-mentioned reasons represent the basic motivation for writing this paper. In order to determine whether the position of women in science varies according to their position on the career scale, as it usually happens all over Europe, we shall examine the situation in the higher education system in the Republic of Serbia. That is why we apply the methodological procedures of descriptive statistics to the micro-data obtained from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development in order to calculate the following relative indicators: the teaching staff structure by gender and grades across different fields of science and the glass ceiling index. We believe that such a relatively precise insight into the range of vertical segregation could be useful in conceiving future initiatives aimed at the systemic introduction of a gender perspective in the adoption, implementation and monitoring of public policies.

ÍNDICE DE BEM-ESTAR ECONÔMICO: UMA PROPOSTA PARA OS ESTADOS BRASILEIROS

O presente artigo tem por objetivo a construção de um Índice de Bem-Estar Econômico (IBEE) para as unidades da federação brasileira, considerando os anos de 2002 e 2008. Especificamente, busca-se verificar os níveis de bem-estar econômico e de seus subcomponentes, além de compará-los entre os estados brasileiros. O índice proposto foi composto por quatro dimensões distintas: “Fluxos de consumo”, “Riqueza real – Legado intergeracional”, “Equidade” e “Seguridade econômica”. Os principais resultados demonstraram que, independentemente da ponderação utilizada, Santa Catarina foi o estado brasileiro que apresentou o maior bem-estar econômico em relação aos demais. Por outro lado, Alagoas foi o estado com pior desempenho, ocupando a última posição do ranking em todas as análises. Considerando a necessidade de construção de uma medida sintética de bem-estar econômico e tendo em vista a relevância de indicadores para subsidiar a implementação e monitoramento de políticas públicas, o IBEE apresenta-se como um índice capaz de mensurar de maneira mais adequada os distintos aspectos associados a um padrão de vida decente.

People with disabilities: Fighting for their rights in the USA and Brazil

This study focuses on guaranteeing of the right to Education for people with disabilities, from the point of view of the human rights organization and the Special Education policy in two countries: United States of America and Brazil. The goal was to understand how the right to Education has been guaranteed to people with disabilities in these two countries. Since the law in the United States of America is organized at state level, New York was chosen as example. We made a comparative study not to produce a ranking that shows what is the best or worst way of committing to implement the right to education for people with disabilities, but rather to understand, through different political, cultural and social contexts, the ways in which such rights were brought forth in the law and in public policy design. We present a brief history of disability rights in the United States of America and Brazil. Then the Special Education policy in both countries is discussed, and some comments are made on Special Education in the state of New York. There are differences related to the idea of inclusion as adopted by each country, because political and legal organization in both countries differ significantly, especially about the definition of the target audience and the definition of the educational tools to beused. Both countries emphasize the participation of disability rights social movements in the creation and monitoring of public policies. Keywords : People with disabilities. Social rights. Special Education.

Avaliação dos Critérios de Elegibilidade do Programa Territórios da Cidadania

Resumo: O Programa Territórios da Cidadania (PTC) é uma das mais relevantes políticas de desenvolvimento territorial vigentes no Brasil, principalmente no que tange sua abrangência e importância. Trata-se de uma política pública social que apresenta escopo diferenciado, com enfoque territorial, gestão social e interministerial. Apesar de o PTC ser oriundo de um processo evolutivo de políticas públicas como: Programa Nacional de Fortalecimento da Agricultura Familiar (Pronaf) e Programa de Desenvolvimento Sustentável dos Territórios Rurais (Pronat), este ainda apresenta certos gargalos, como a definição de critérios para a escolha dos territórios. Neste sentido, o artigo apresenta metodologia estatística com o objetivo de avaliar os critérios de elegibilidade e o grau de importância desses critérios para que um município seja atendido pelo programa, a partir de indicadores proxies aos critérios definidos em decreto. Como resultado, critérios como densidade demográfica, existência de quilombos e população indígena não apresentaram o protagonismo esperado. Já o Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano apresentou-se como principal critério de elegibilidade, mostrando que o indicador se mantém relevante para o ciclo de monitoramento e avaliação de políticas públicas brasileiras. A agricultura familiar, um dos principais pilares do PTC e de seus programas antecessores, também se mostrou importante, mantendo a coerência do escopo e objetivos do programa.

Multistate projections by level of education for Portugal, 2011–2031

Educational attainment is an attribute that leads to a great distinction between the members of a population, including when considering their health and well-being, which are features to pursue within an aging society. The aim of this work was to produce demographic projections for the Portuguese population by sex, age group and level of educational attainment, for the period 2011–2031. Considering fertility, mortality and migration differentials by level of education, the population was projected using the multistate cohort-component method with a block Leslie matrix. Two scenarios were considered, one where educational attainment before 2011 remains constant and another in which educational attainment will follow the trend observed over the last decade, being the trend in the state proportion modelled using continuation ratio models. The results show an increase in the proportion of individuals who complete higher educational levels in almost all age groups of both sexes. Among women, only 13.6 % had completed some level of higher education in 2011, a figure that will rise to approximately 23.4 % in 2031, whereas among men this value was only 9.7 % and will also rise by 2031, reaching 15.5 %. We can expect the proportion of people with higher educational levels to continue to rise as the education of younger cohorts seems to evolve positively. This work will be particularly useful to study how the aging population and the rising levels of education can contribute to the planning and monitoring of public policies, although these findings can also be used in other research contexts.

Latin Women Take the Helm

Latin Women Take the Helm

Do Controle Interno ao Controle Social: A Múltipla Atuação da CGU na Democracia Brasileira

O trabalho visa analisar a múltipla atuação da Controladoria Geral da União (CGU) dentro de nosso sistema político. Inicialmente centralizando o controle interno da administração pública federal, recentemente este órgão, além da defesa da legalidade pelo controle dos procedimentos, ampliou seu escopo para outras funções como o combate à corrupção, o monitoramento das políticas públicas, a promoção da transparência e, como aspecto mais inovador, tem desempenhado papel importante na mobilização da sociedade civil, capacitando-a para o exercício da função de controle social dos governantes. Assim, o texto argumenta que a atuação desse órgão representa mais uma experiência na história política do país em que aparatos burocráticos do Estado atuam com grande protagonismo. Mas cabe frisar sua novidade, advinda do novo contexto democrático, que é exatamente a combinação da indução estatal com uma forte articulação com a sociedade. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: controle interno; controle social; democracia participativa; transparência; accountability.ABSTRACTThe study aims to examine the multiple actions of the Controladoria Geral da União (CGU) within our political system. Initially centralizing the internal control of the Federal Government, recently this body, in addition to defending the legality of the procedures for control, expanded its scope to other functions such as combating corruption, the monitoring of public policies, the promotion of transparency and, as an aspect more innovative, have played an important role in mobilizing civil society, enabling it to exercise the function of social control of the rulers. Thus, the text argues that the role of this organ is more experience in the political history of the country in which the bureaucratic apparatus of the state act with great leadership. But we should emphasize its novelty, arising out of the new democratic context, which is exactly the combination of induction state with a strong connection with society.KEYWORDS: Auditing, social control, participatory democracy, transparency, accountability.

El argumento de responsabilidad social de la industria tabacalera en Brasil

The issue of "corporate social responsibility" has been one of great importance and concern in the world and has received different names, such as social responsibility, corporate citizenship, sustainable development and corporate ethics. Today, more than ever, it has been necessary for governments, as well as the diverse representatives of "organized civil society," to act in accordance with the concept of sustainable development. This implies an understanding that preservation of the environment, health and education is related to economic productivity; it means an understanding that healthy populations are essential to the reduction of poverty, as well as economic growth and sustainable development. The various positive experiences in Brazil in confronting the tobacco industry's strategies to undermine national tobacco control efforts are due to the existence of a wide network that has played a fundamental role in social control with respect to both the monitoring of public policies that control tobacco and tobacco industry strategies.

The Risks of Efficiency Indicators in the Monitoring of Public Policies

The deep upheavals of the public sphere, which take place today, are above all the result of a long basic reflection on the future of a more efficient management of the institutions but also of the organizations. In France, we are confronted today with a requirement for organisational change. The LOLF Reform (the new budgetary law framework) is a convincing illustration: the simple concept of public management is gone beyond management of objectives, to be based on a concept of efficiency of the public policies. These problems thus concern directly the idea of performance of the public sector, which is largely under scrutiny. Admittedly, it is necessary to clearly distinguish measurements of performance within the organizations from those used for the political systems. Besides, we will show, throughout this article, the inevitable drift of a performance management system that would neglect the institutional and decisional aspects, which would confuse the managerial tools with the policies of application of the performance criteria.The origin of the term efficiency draws on a remote basic definition, issued mainly of works on management, proposing an approach based on the relationship between the means implemented and the results obtained, in other words like the relationship between the committed resources and the produced goods and services. The question arises then, how to measure this performance if it is not only by measuring the relationship between the inputs and the outputs, but to do so, a definition of the evaluation criteria of this efficiency is necessary. The movement of planning programming budgeting system allowed, inter alia, highlighting certain tools and techniques like the dashboards or the cost accounting of the public service. But today, we are no longer at the time of the installation of the tools, but have reached the stage of policy assessment. The object of this research is to understand in what these indicators of efficiency are relevant in relation to the strategic monitoring of the public organization. Are these indicators efficient? Insofar are they likely to represent, on the contrary, a genuine brake with the public performance? The eruption of these efficiency indicators in the public domain, as well as a review of the literature concerning their true stakes, will be the subject of the first part of this research. We will propose then, through an empirical investigation, by case studies, a crossed analysis allowing to better determining the maladjustment of these criteria to the field realities. Thus, our analysis draws on two particular fields of organisational management: scientific research and public health.Through a summary of the results and a relevant return on the literature, we shall endeavour to bring out the genuine managerial tools for a more efficient public sector. We will emphasize potential drifts and imperfections of a system, which in proposing a globalisation of measurement criteria, is based on an idea of efficiency often unsuited to the stakes of public management.