Speech by Ceres Alves Prates, 14 March 2001 |
FEDERATIVE
REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL
MINISTRY OF
PLANNING, BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT
SECRETARIAT
FOR MANAGEMENT
e-Government
– Realising the Benefits
of
Information Technologies and
Improving
Public Services Delivery
Ceres
Alves Prates
Secretary
for Management
Paper
presented on the seminars preceding the III Global Forum – Fostering
Democracy and Development through e-government
Naples, 12-14 March, 2001.
March
2001
Ladies
and Gentlemen, good morning,
First,
I would like to salute all of you present here today and also compliment the
United Nations, the Italian Government and other institutions that have, at
once, joined their efforts to bring into reality the current series of
seminars that precede the III Global Forum, which I sincerely hope that will
be very fruitful to all of us.
Last
year we had the satisfaction to host in Brazil the II Global Forum. We had
then the opportunity to gather representatives of several countries,
companies and of all levels of the Brazilian government, not to mention
students and various non-governmental organizations (NGO’s).
At
the end of two and a half intense and prolific days of debate, we managed to
approve a consensual document, called “An
Agenda for the Future”, which contains a set of principles and
objectives by which we must guide our actions in order to build more
effective governments and more equitable societies throughout the world.
However,
the scenario we envisioned in An
Agenda for the Future will not be easily created. In fact, we live in an
era in which the majority of long-held dogmas about governmental behavior
are falling apart. We know now that good government does not depend
necessarily on the expansion or reduction of public expenditures or whether
companies are nationalised or privatised. For these reasons, among others,
the discussion between minimal State or maximum State is pointless. In An
Agenda for the Future, we affirmed that THE
STATE WILL NO LONGER BE AN ALL-POWERFUL STATE, BUT NEITHER WILL IT BE A
MINIMAL ONE. All governmental strategic actions should be aimed at
creating a possible and optimized
state. It means trying to imprint top quality and effectiveness to state
action.
If,
on one hand, the slow but steady destruction of the pillars that supported
the State for such a long time – a powerful bureaucracy, administrative
centralization, a rigid budget, emphasis on control etc – has brought
about a period of great instability, characterized essentially by all sorts
of uncertainties, on the other hand, it is undeniable that this very same
fact allows us a wider range of vision and greater freedom to think and act
while public servants and decision-makers.
Of
the many factors that concur to the construction of this possible
and optimized State, the qualified and intensive use of Information
Technologies (IT) is a key element. IT’s are revolutionizing our lives,
including the way we work, communicate and learn. The Knowledge Age – a
label more appropriate than Information Age, for knowledge presupposes
in-transit information that generates value – offers a rather large set of
opportunities to organize governmental activities according to innovative
and improved methods. It allows us, therefore, to make people’s lives
easier by providing public services more effectively and expeditiously,
meeting the needs of the citizenry through integrated and convenient ways.
Were
not IT’s of utmost importance, and were not their potentialities so
immense, the Italian Government and this expressive group of international
organizations would not have selected “electronic government” as the
main theme for this week-long round of discussions here in Naples. Nor would
we have come to Italy to debate and share our best practices from so far
away.
I
have been invited to lecture on the Brazilian experience of delivering
public services through one-stop shops, or integrated
centers for public services delivering. I will certainly address this
topic in more details later, but first I would like to outline briefly the
proposal on electronic government the Brazilian Government designed and has
been implementing. I am fully sure that Mr. Pedro Faria, representing
Minister Pedro Parente, will talk about it in greater details at the plenary
session during the III Global Forum. Nonetheless, I would like to introduce
it very quickly to you, for I understand it is possible to contemplate both
topics during this seminar, showing not only the possibilities created by
the ever increasing application of IT’s but also their successful
utilization in practice.
To
start with, I would like to show you some figures that will give show you
how far Brazil has already gone in IT applications.
For
instance, last year elections were held for local and State governments in
Brazil, from mayors and governors to city representatives. All the ballots
were electronic, both hardware and software developed and produced
nationally. The figures are impressive: more than 310.000 (three hundred and
ten thousand) ballots were used by more than 90 million voters. Despite
these large numbers, more than 90% of all votes were counted and processed
within 24 hours. If we take into account what happened in the United States
last year, with all its dramatic consequences, we can’t help but recognize
that such application of IT can bring great efficiency and transparence to
the public sector.
There
is another benchmarking experience in this area that I am proud to announce
– more than 11 million income tax forms were submitted via Internet,
representing 90% of the total amount. The software made available is very
simple and automatically makes all the calculations, indicating errors and
providing solutions. It thus makes easier the life of the taxpayer and
avoids trouble to the public organization responsible for collecting the
taxes. At the same time, it reduces costs significantly.
Let
me briefly show other figures. Brazil is 12th country in number
of hosts on the Internet. It may be remarkable, but I would call your
attention to the USA, which position give us a clear picture of the
asymmetries on the Internet nowadays. This is something we must work to
overcome. As slides pass, you will witness that Brazil is the third larger
country in e-banking operations, has an estimated amount of 10 million
Internet users (but 36 million if we consider inertial viewers), and will
have transactions mounting up to US$10 billion in e-commerce in 2003 if
nothing else is done. In other words, let alone the already existing
e-commerce channels, the country will move by inertia to those awesome
figures. Imagine what could be achieved if we put into action a strategic
and targeted plan to enhance the opportunities!
Those
figures are truly amazing, bur it is important, from the very beginning, to
take into account all of Brazil’s singularities. Notwithstanding a
developing nation, Brazil developed throughout the 20th century an extremely
well structured state apparatus and a strong bureaucracy, even though the
state, given the slings and arrows of our peculiar political history, ended
by suffering from a troublesome overgrowth and creating obstacles rather
difficult to be overcome. Today we still suffer from a liability of
authoritarianism and centralization that has given us as legacy hindrances
that obstruct a more vigorous and agile modernization of the public sector.
Conversely,
the country’s economy presented, throughout the entire XXth century, an
incredible rate of growth, Brazil being, right after Japan, the
fastest-growing economy until the 80s. Being currently the 9th or
10th largest economy in the world, Brazil is, in the words of
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, a nation characterized more by
injustice than by underdevelopment.
Be
that as it may, there are several obstacles precluding a more dramatic shift
in the overall environment in Brazil in what concerns to the use of
Infomation Technologies. In Brazil, great discrepancies still prevail, while
being reinforced by the low-income pattern and the poorly educated society.
Despite substantive decrease in telecommunications costs along the last
years, the access to the most recent advances in the area are still
concentrated on a very small fraction of the population.
In
this context, the revolution on telecommunications in Brazil had to pass,
and is still passing, on the one hand, a serious privatization process of
State-owned monopolies of provision of telecommunication services and, on
the other hand, through a much more profound and agile advancement in the
private than in the public sector. Moreover, there still exists a profound
social asymmetry in the fruition of the benefits generated by periods of
economic expansion, a negative characteristic that affects almost all
aspects of our lives. In this regard, we are dealing with the “digital
divide”, a situation we must employ our best efforts to overcome, running
the risk of reinforcing the already existing and shameful inequalities.
Despite
having nowadays more than 170 million inhabitants, we have achieved the
level of only 39 million fixed phone lines, and 24 million mobile phones.
These figures are clear examples of the country’s low teledensity,
although, in absolute terms, they put the country among the 15 biggest in
any international comparison. Moreover, in only one year, the growth in the
number of mobile phones was 52%, while the figure for fixed phone lines was
40%. When we talk about internet, we are only 10 million surfers, what
represents less than one-tenth of the total population. In the last 5 years,
however, the growth has been exponential. All these figures reflect not only
an expansion based on repressed demand, but also the strength of the wave of
technological revolution currently in pace in the country.
This
scenario of accelerated change in the country’s telecommunication profile
brings along the real possibility that, in the near future, if we succeed in
implementing a well structured strategic policy, we will be able to offer to
a great part of the population not only access to these technologies, but
also give a great leap in the educational, professional and economic status
of all people.
The
Green Book on the Information Society (available in English and Spanish at
www.socinfo.org.br) gives a detailed account of the Brazilian proposals regarding electronic
government. From the very start, it is highly important to stress that such
a proposal, which was praised worldwide, encompasses not only the aspects
directly related to the construction of the infrastructure necessary to the
good development of the telecommunication services currently demanded, but
also an ambitious project of universalization of access through a fund whose
resources come from the companies that explore the Brazilian market after
the privatization process. Moreover, it sets out actions towards the
implementation of e-government initiatives in the country. The year 2001
alone has at its disposal more than US$ 600 million to investments in
projects related to universalization of access. This year, more than US$ 20
billion are expected to be invested in the telecommunication sector in
Brazil, including telephony, internet etc.
The
strategy of universalization of access includes, among others:
·
Implanting
at least one local public access point in each of the more than 5500
Brazilian municipalities by 2005.
·
Training
people to use IT.
·
Distributing
electronic kiosks with access to public services throughout the country, in
partnership with private companies, local governments and NGO’s.
·
Establishing
networks connected through Internet 2 between all public universities,
laboratories and research centers.
·
Implanting
computer terminals with internet access in all public schools by 2002.
The
range of concrete actions aimed at the universalization of access is,
obviously, much wider than the short list presented above. It is also
important to emphasize that, besides these activities, the proposal also
contemplates an immense national project of capacity building for teaching
people how to effectively use the available IT’s – a digital ABC.
Furthermore, due to the high costs associated with number of computer
terminals that would be necessary to provide universal access to the whole
country, the federal government lent its support to a research program
performed by the University of Campinas aimed at building a national,
simplified, internet-based equipment, that would use software under public
dominion. This project ended up by producing a computer that meets all
access necessities for a price around US$ 250, while a similar equipment
would cost at least 2,5 times this price in the market.
Still
on the topic of universalization of access, the Government is anxious to
take advantage of the opportunities presented by the use of IT’s to
improve the educational system in the country. In this regard, by 2002 all
libraries will be connected to a common network and will be ready to be
accessed through the internet, and long-distance teaching courses will be
offered as well – there already exists experimentally a Virtual
University, result of a partnership among some public universities – and
it is under way a curricular revision to study ways to include courses and
activities that take into account all new IT’s.
From
the viewpoint of cultural identity, the proposal includes actions supporting
the digitalization of knowledge produced in the country, so as to facilitate
its storage and large-scale dissemination, as well will try to forge
partnerships to induce the incorporation of local content to the internet,
with emphasis given to the affirmation of the Portuguese language
in the virtual space, according
to Agreement signed at the level of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking
Countries. The greater availability of contents in Portuguese will also
accelerate both qualitatively and quantitatively the universalization of
access.
The
laboratorial sequencing of the genes of the bacteria Xystella
fastidiosa, which causes a severe pestilence in plants and headache in
farmers, is already an expressive result of the network interconnection of a
group of laboratories dedicated to scientific research. The achievement of
such a result would not have been possible without the safe and agile
communication system that was at the researchers’ disposal throughout the
country.
In
the case of implanting electronic booth with information and public
services, the governments of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo have sealed
partnerships with Telefónica de España, one of the service providers that
operates in these states, and are implanting such booths, offering also
qualified supported to users.
The
Federal Government is also partnering with the Committee for Democracy in
Information Technology - CDI (www.cdi.org.br)
, in a project that implants center of training and access to the Internet
in the poorest areas of the country. Other institutions have joined the
partnership, such as Microsoft, the InterAmerican Development Bank, Dell
Computers, Kellog Foundation. The Committee to Democratize Information
Technology (CDI) is a Brazilian non-governmental, non-profit organization
that promotes educational and vocational training programs (Computer Science
and Citizenship Schools). The centers have as their mission to reintegrate
the members of the poor communities, principally children and young people,
and alleviate the social exclusion they are subjected to in Brazil. In
addition to developing pioneer work in bringing information technology to
the underpriviliged populations, they help promote citizenship, literacy,
ecology, health, human rights and non-violence, through information
technology. The partnership is now expanding its arms to reach prisons,
mental and health institutions, and some similar initiatives are being
carried by CDI in other countries.
Regarding
the use of IT’s by State organs, the Brazilian Government has had
experiences of great success, among which there are:
·
Public
kioks: free
local access points to information and services delivered by the Federal
Government are being implanted all over the country to get closer to
citizens;
·
Information
sharing and services delivering:
a great number of governmental sites hosts the more varied information
regarding the Government, from the public budget to the programs and actions
of each Ministry, including a huge gateway elaborated by the Federal
Government, with links to all other levels of administration and Branches of
Government, as well as online delivering of more than 600 services –
www.redegoverno.gov.br
·
Procurement:
an innovative system of online bidding, that adds agility and reduces
costs by integrating all government procurement needs, contains a vast and
complete compilation of all information regarding bidding for government
procurement and an ample register of suppliers – www.comprasnet.gov.br
;
·
Judicial Follow-up:
all Courts of higher jurisdiction publish their decision on the internet,
and citizens and companies can access the standing of their lawsuits
remotely – www.stj.gov.br
, www.stf.gov.br ;
·
Government
Networking: almost
all organs of the federal government are already interconnected through a
safe, high-speed network, with national coverage;
·
Tax
Collection:
10 million Income Tax Statements processed through the Internet in 2000,
representing 90% of the total. Information and payment of other
business-related taxes are already on the net – www.receita.fazenda.gov.br
;
·
Call
Center: the
Federal Government will impant an integrated call center this year,
associated with its mega gateway of information and services – Rede
Governo, and also with a new service of Ombudsman. Through this sole
channel, citizens will be able to get information on any governmental area
or organisation, as well as make suggestions, post claims, require documents
and solicit specific actions.
·
Electronic
Elections:
more than 310.000 electronic ballot-boxes installed throughout the country
in 2000, in every municipality, with 90,5% of the results counted, processed
and transmitted to the central computer in Brasília within 24 hours – www.tse.gov.br
;
Such
an expressive array of actions, which is nothing more than a summary of the
use of IT’s by the Brazilian Government, constitute a clear and firm
indicative of the country’s strong commitment to disseminating the usage
of such technologies to quicken service delivering, optimize administrative
activities, imprint greater transparency to all public actions and inform
the citizenry. It represents, above all, an unyielding national commitment
intended to bring the government to everybody, be that a private company or
a citizen, simplifying their lives and guaranteeing the reduction of costs
and more efficiency and effectiveness in the state’s actions.
Furthermore,
the initiative so-called Transparent Brazil is already in progress, by means
of articulating diverse projects and measures in the legal and
administrative area, aimed at the implantation and strenghtening of the
existing systems for public expenses monitoring, with emphasis in tools that
propitiate social control. Moreover, the Federal Government developed a
policy for management of the security of the information, which is
implanting standards for the electronic certification and authentication
(infrastructure of public key - ICP-gov).
Through
the Br@sil.gov initiative, the Federal
Government will bring into operation its intranetwork, until the end of
2001, with features of multiservice communications, such as, traffic of
voice, data and images. It will operate in national scope, making possible
the support to diverse applications, systems and services, including
telephony, thus integrating all Ministries and other administrative
entities.
When
it comes to public security, one of the main worries in Brazil these days,
the Federal Government is supporting state and local governments to develop
a integrated system of information, that will offer citizens the possibility
of registering police occurrences via Internet. With all records available
remotely nation-wide, this system will help the police to enhance its
performance, and will be boosted by the re-equiping of street police and
stations, making possible the monitoring and location of patrols for
immediate attendance, even by electronic calls.
Other
actions include the remote monitoring and the radar-based vigilance of the
Amazonian space (www.sivam.gov.br),
a project which will be completed by next year, the remote delivery of
health care services, including criscross diagnosis and telemedicine and the
building of an integrated network of health information bringing together
more than 4000 municipalities all over the country. In addition, more
advanced and safe mechanisms of weather forecasting are being implemented (www.inpe.br),
fundamental to preventing natural disaster (floods, droughts, frosts etc),
that jeopardize not only urban agglomerations but also the agri-business,
and a series of other actions designed to guarantee multiple channels of
interface with the citizenry, ranging from telephonic commuters, public
information kiosks, community access centers, mechanisms to check the levels
of satisfaction of public service users etc –
http://www.socinfo.org.br/
qualidade.planejamento.gov.br.
There
are also actions designed to facilitate businesses in their dealings for
exports and imports, and integrated job-offer centers to help unemployed
citizens to be reallocated in the labor market.
The
possibilities opened by the IT’s are countless. In the near future,
citizens will be able to check at job centers, be picked up for an online
interview, and be delivered the service they demand 24h a day, 7 days a
week, according to his/her convenience. The quality of public service
delivered will be compelled to meet that of the private sector. The citizen
will not tolerate anything less than that.
At
the same time, new IT’s open the doors for the establishment of direct
partnerships with private companies, NGOs, sub-national governments, foreign
governments, citizen associations etc. This tends to turn all public
services more versatile, being more in contact with the citizen and more
easily controlled by him/her. In this environment of dramatic and
accelerating changes, the selection and training of public servants will be
of critical importance to the success of all and any new governmental
experience. Therefore, responsibility and autonomy, transparency and
capacity of running calculated risks, freedom to innovate and knowledge
management, all will have to work together and march along.
These
are but some of the new opportunities created by the revolution on the
telecommunications field and a few initiatives of the Brazilian Government
in the use of IT’s to perform its duties.
Besides
the new opportunities opened by new IT’s, that allow us to perform actions
never foreseen, they also enable us to conduct more traditional activities
more efficiently and economically.
In
regard to this last perspective – of performing traditional actions more
efficiently while at the same time spending less money – I would like to
present a highly successful Brazilian experience that became an
international reference in delivering public services.
I
would like, therefore, to briefly discuss this concrete case of intensive IT
utilization that has turned upside-down the perception the citizenry has
regarding the delivery of public services.
At the Secretariat for Management, we are developing what we call Projeto Atendimento Integrado, that intends to encourage the adoption of a renewed model for delivering public services, which follows predetermined functioning principles and presents some particularities that distinguish it from the pattern commonly found throughout the country. It can be implemented in partnership with State-level and municipal governments.
The model is characterized by the assembling of representatives of public
organs of the federal, state-level and municipal spheres, in a single
physical space, so as to constitute an integrated
center for public service (PS) delivering. Some of the services that can
be offered include: issuance of Identification Cards, Personal Criminal
Records, Social Security Cards, concession of pensions and other allowances,
payment of Social Security debts, issuance
of passport, etc. These
centers are envisioned to operate in a concerted way, under the command of a
unified central administration and supported by high-end technology. All
servants are specially trained to inform and orient the population, quickly
and efficiently. Moreover, the environment in which they are located is a
welcoming and pleasant place.
The general objective of the project is to stimulate the recognition of the
citizen as the main focus of attention of the State, making good services
available and, consequentially, reestablishing the legitimacy of public
organs before the civil society.
To
this end it is necessary to:
v
Deliver
an efficient, quick, high quality and low cost service.
v
Enlarge
the population’s access to public services.
v
Simplify
all bureaucratic obligations.
v
Give
pro-active responses to complaints and suggestions made by public service
users.
v
Approximate
the citizen to the state, eliminating the need of intermediaries.
v
Afford
greater transparency to the public administration.
v
Recover
the democratic aspect of the services delivered.
v
Welcome,
orient, and inform the population concerning the basic prerequisites
necessary to obtaining the services available.
v
Qualify
and dignify the work of the public servants.
v
Become
reference to public service in the whole country.
The
model proposed above implies, directly and indirectly, in a series of gains
of efficiency and operational quality that result in benefits, for the
society as well as for the state.
The population benefits mainly from some improvements it experiences in its
life quality, which come from:
v
Saving
time in needless dislocations and long lines.
v
Saving
money with intermediaries. This aspect is quite important when one takes
into account that the traditional structure of public service delivering
created hoards of dispatchers and other intermediaries that started to
intervene in the citizen-state relationship. At the integrated centers, this
“industry” becomes meaningless and looses its raison
d’être, thanks to the face-to-face approach used.
v
Recognition
of its citizenship, reflected in the quality of the services delivered, in
the relationship with employees able to solve his/her problems, in the
comfort given by the physical space, and, finally, in the opportunity to
participate in the evaluation process of the services offered.
From the State viewpoint, growing efficiency in service delivery means,
naturally, cutting costs. This decrease derives from the greater
productivity of the civil servants employed and of the economies of scale
realized from the concentration of services within a single physical space,
leading to the optimization of resource use.
The
success of the integrated centers is in general conditioned to the
observation of the following characteristics without which implementing a
center and paying for its functioning is futile:
Localization:
every citizen
must be able to easily access the unit.
v
Units
must be located in areas with huge traffic of people or highly populated
residential areas.
v
User
access to units must be simplified, not only in terms of providing easily
reachable public transportation, but also in what concerns possible
architectural obstacles that may hamper the visual identification of the
facilities available and the ease of circulation of disabled-persons.
Physical
Facilities: an
adequate and welcoming environment
v
The
architectural concept and the unit operation must break with the decadent
model of a typical public office, and must give preference to good
ventilation, illumination, functionality and cleanliness.
v
Implanting
a new integrated unit of Public Services delivering does not necessarily
imply building something new, in a new office. Any pre-existing facility,
once adapted to the new function, can be used.
v
Its
physical layout should promote the organizational integration of the
different agencies delivering public services, fostering the impression that
one and only one entity is executing service there;
v
In
this regard, a standard uniform worn by all employees can be of great
usefulness, in order to allow the population to readily identify them.
Technology: operating in a networked environment with high-end
technology The technology adopted will
be invaluable to imprint agility to the processes. It must enable also fast
and safe communications among the different sectors of the unity and its
databases.
Human Resources: motivated employees to offer good services
Improving the quality of public services delivered to the population
depends largely on the qualification and revalue public servants. Training to work at a center must encompass, beyond technical
aspects, the incorporation of a code of behavior and attitude compatible
with the role of welcoming and orienting the public.
Routine of
Service Production: review
and continued improvements The
creation of an integrated unit for Public Service delivery is not limited to
the aggregation of several organs under the same roof; it implies much more
-- a new attitude before service production. Proceedings and norms usually
adopted by the organizations integrating the unit must be reviewed and, as
soon as possible, replaced by
more efficient ones, both in terms of quality and agility.
ADVERTISEMENT:
extensive diffusion of the integrated center for Public Services delivering
v
Citizens
must be well informed about the existence and characteristics of the
services offered by the integrated units for PS delivery.
v
Use
of advertising instruments, like media campaigns and folder distribution, is
necessary to familiarize the public with this new method of public service.
Information: a
strategy to help avoid lines and save time
Considering that the unit is supposed to assist each individual separately
and on a person-to-person basis, quickly and without intermediaries, it is
of fundamental importance to offer precise information through:
v
A
call center designed to give preliminary information related to the service
requested.
v
A
front-line team, composed of specially-trained receptionists available right
at the entrance hall, to furnish the newcoming user with all information
he/she may need regarding his/her demand.
v
A
roving team of supervisors that will take the lead in solving doubts users
may have while searching for the appropriate area of interest.
v
Explanation
sheets, readily accessible and easily comprehensible, put in strategic
locations.
v
Signs
which are easy for users to see and understand of easy, both at the entrance
and inside the unit, indicating the precise location of the all agencies and
corresponding services and responsibilities.
Support: facilitate the consummation of support services inside the own unit
One of the founding principles of the project is that the citizen can obtain, in a single trip to the unit, the service he/she desires. This way, the incorporation of support services becomes indispensable. For example: banking service to execute any necessary payments, photographic center and copying facility.
Working hours: public service available also beyond traditional hours
An expanded set of working hours for the unit is decisive to allow the whole population to take advantage of the facility. That is, we must take into account that, during the so-called ‘business hours’, most people are committed to their own professional activities. Why not to offer public service 12 hours a day and also on Saturdays?
Evaluation: option for steady improvements
v
Success
in implementing this differentiated way of offering public services depends,
among other things, on the incessant and restless search for patterns of
excellence.
v
To
achieve this objective, the unit must be administered entrepreneurly,
innovating and evaluating actions through indicators that measure and
quantify the results achieved. Periodic evaluations of the level of user
satisfaction are also critical.
The
case of Bahia
In
Bahia, for instance, one-stop shops are known as SACs – Serviços de
Atendimento ao Cidadão. Currently, there are 20 in fixed locations and
6 mobile units which travel around the State. In the fixed ones, everybody
can have access to a wide variety of documents, pay water, electric, phone
and cell phone bills.
Data
from last year’s performance of the Bahian program is astonishing. More
than 10 million people went to the SACs searching specific public services.
If we take into account the state’s total population, which is of 13
million, we will have the exact magnitude of the impact the SAC has had in
those citizens. These figures also confirm that citizens have preferred look
for help at the SAC instead of using the traditional way. Moreover, when we
look at the extraordinary rate of user satisfaction, that in Bahia is
currently at 93%, we must undoubtedly say that the citizens’ perceptions
regarding the efficiency and speed of the public service have changed
considerably.
These
figures indicating the high level of quality and user satisfaction. This, in
turn, contributes to bringing citizens and government together, creating
trustworthy relationships, strengthening democracy, and deepening
citizenship awareness.
In
São Paulo, the one-stop shops of the state-government are called Poupatempo,
which means Time-Saver. The figures are also breath-taking. Although only
six centers are fully operational today, eight more will be inaugurated this
year. In 2000, the number of accesses was larger than 18 million, almost
half of the population of the full state.
The
level of users` satisfaction is also overwhelming in São Paulo. Last year,
users had a satisfaction rate of 95%! That is why people have preferred to
resort to the centres in order to obtain their documents, get information,
and solve any pendings they might have with public institutions.
There
has been a wide international replication of this initiative. The United
Nations has selected it as a benchmarking best practice in public services
delivering, Portugal and Australia have their centers operating and some
will be implanted in African nations, specially those of the Community of
Portuguese-Speaking countries. England and the US have also their one-stop
shops, adapted to the circumstances and goalds pre-defined. One can have a
stop-shop for micro-loans, for export/import facilities, etc.
We
are sure the experiences discussed above can be easily replicated throughout
the world, for they consist first and foremost of new technologies for
offering public services and not in a complex form to do so. Moreover, it
seeks to reinvigorate the public sector, improving public service delivering
and redeeming the trust of the citizenry in the state. This way, it
contributes to strengthening democracy and consolidating citizenship, paving
the way that will take us to more just and democratic societies, the common
end of us all.
This
was my message. At the debate, I will be available to answer any questions
you may have, and I will try to clarify any doubt or give a more detailed
account of any point that may have been left misunderstood.
Thank
you!
