Social Observatory of Maringá - Observatorio Social de Maringá

In 2006, after two years of awareness campaigning with children, adolescents and adults using theatre, writing awards, films, seminars, etc., that reached thousands of people thanks to private sector support, SER decided to take more direct action. The Observatorio Social de Maringá (Maringá’s Social Observatory) was then created. It is a social control tool to prevent the mismanagement or misappropriation of public funds, and seeks to guarantee transparency in the city's public tender and procurement processes.

The voluntary members of the Observatorio are professionals of different disciplines –lawyers, accountants, economists, public servants, business managers, and students. Initially, those members were trained by the Controladoria Geral da União e TCU (central government´s accounting inspection office), as well as its equivalent provincial institution for the State of Paraná. This training allowed Observatorio members to understand in detail public procedures, specifically related to public tenders and procurements.

The observatory has created a methodology made up of three phases: the first phase includes the study of requests for tender proposals (RFPs) and terms of reference (TORs) to check their legality and transparency, and to alert the municipality if there are any irregularities. It also guarantees that public invitations to participate are widely disseminated amongst the largest possible number of companies, seeking a high number of participants and lower costs. The second phase is mainly focused on prices, and the quantity and quality of the acquired products and/or services. The third, focuses on the delivery of the products and services, making sure that they correspond to the originally agreed terms.

"We assume that a serious, intelligent and well meaning leader in government, will open the doors to the Observatory, because all the resources we save will fund new infrastructure and public works, and this will mean, eventually, lots of popularity for him or her" says Fernando Otero, project coordinator and auditor. "Our main ally is civil society...common citizens who want to do this task properly. For example: we receive calls from housewives that control the quantity of detergent used in their children’s schools: this is society taking care of its own money”.

Democracy, citizenship, civil society

The Observatory's citizens' "watchdog role" has drastically reduced the embezzlement of Maringá’s public funds. In its first nine months of work alone, more than US$ 5 million were saved, thanks to the reduction in money spent on medicines, cars, and school materials, amongst others.

The Observatory’s role in the prevention of corruption and the public awareness campaigns on taxes and transparency have been acknowledged nationally and internationally. In 2008, The Observatory received a FINEP Award at the regional level, in the category of Social Technology. In 2009, it received – competing with another 1000 projects - the first place in the 5th edition of the Social Innovation Award , sponsored by the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) or the Spanish acronym CEPAL - and the Kellogg Foundation. The CEPAL elected it for being a "very efficient project, with a high social impact, and easily adaptable in other cities" since "depending mainly on volunteer work, doesn’t need high amounts of funding".

SER's Observatory’s model of citizens' watchdog role has been proposed by the CEPAL as an example and experience to be adopted in Latin America and the Caribbean. Up to now, 52 of the 5565 Brazilian municipalities have developed a similar Observatory. If interested, the Observatory offers the mayors'offices its own software free of charge, which has been specifically developed to exert control over public bids, tenders, and public expenses. SER also offers another software that facilitates Internet communication amongst all the Observatories.