Brazil

The study comprises two volumes on the use of public resources to provide educational services in Brazilian municipalities, by which the policy report (volume 1) presents... Show More + recommendations, based on the research report (volume 2). This research outlines the policy context, objectives, and methodology practiced, to then focus on the extent to which municipalities benefited from efforts designed to provide additional resources for education. A description, and analysis of the patterns of change in the availability of resources, documents the substantial redirection in resources from State governments to Municipal governments that took place during 1996-02, and likewise, from prosperous municipalities, to relatively less prosperous ones, while discussions, and analyses on the composition of expenditures explore issues on the municipal management of such resources, in particular, on specific issues regarding teachers as related to municipal management of resources. The econometric analysis of the educational impact of additional resources, and the management shift of resources from States to Municipalities, shows the educational impact as measured in terms of changes in indicators of internal efficiency of municipal education systems. Policy conclusions suggest efforts should build on the success of previous reforms, by extending the results of successful municipalities to lesser performing ones, with a focus on educational quality, and supported by federal programs that provide financial incentives, and technical assistance. Show Less -

National development planning is seen as an important tool of economic development, and in Brazil, the 1988 Constitution, includes the "Plano Plurianual de Acao - PPA"... Show More + (i.e., multi-year development planning), together with the Law of Budget Directives, and the annual budget laws, as part of a set of legal instruments for fiscal, and public expenditure management. Its main role is to provide the government with strategic guidelines for the allocation of public resources, to improve efficiency, and ultimately achieve a higher level of development. To summarize, Brazil's PPA is a unique attempt to use techniques of planning, transform the Brazilian Federal bureaucracy into a modern, results-oriented entity, and effectively provide public goods and services as demanded by its citizens. Its goals of revamping the state's capacity to instill a culture of entrepreneurial management in the public sector, are ambitious; yet, its approach to implementation is advisedly cautious. Its conceptual design is built explicitly on experiences form the previous PPA, and, the development of the new plan followed a careful preparation process that lasted more than two years. The "model" is multi-faceted, and highly complex, appropriate for an evolving process, in which the Government is constantly introducing adjustments to the model's design, as encountered from practical implementation challenges. Show Less -