This is a CTP of initiative: Participatory Budgeting Fortaleza (Brazil)
This CTP refers to the change of Fortaleza PB´s main actor, the PB coordinator. The PB coordinator holds a position of trust and the successful candidate is indicated by the city mayor.
In 2005 the PB was implemented in the city of Fortaleza which until 2012 was run under the management of the same mayor (two successive governments of four years each). This mayor was affiliated with the Partido dos Trabalhadores (The Workers' Party), a party with a left-wing tradition.
The PB Fortaleza had two coordinators, one from 2005 to 2009 and another from 2009 to 2012.
According to the interviewee, after the PB coordinator was changed the management of OP actions has become more effective. She points out 4 reasons for this in relation to the skills and characteristics of the coordinator: (1) the new coordinator was from the same political group as the mayor who indicated him for the post; (2) the new coordinator knew the public machine, its operation and had input in all secretariats, in addition to the mayor in office himself; (3) the new coordinator was pragmatic and (4) the new coordinator knew the social political bases of the city and negotiated well with the population.
In summary, the new coordinator was experienced in dealing with the established government and also used his personal negotiation skills with the people who had initiated the PB. Until 2008 the PB had suffered with an idealization crisis derived from both the population as well as its first coordinator. The new coordinator was able to solve demands faster and more effectively.
"We thought that the PB could solve everything. Then we realized that we worked with only 7% of the budget. Then we had a new manager that was more connected to the city hall ideologically. He effectively managed to articulate the demands and priorities of the neighborhoods, and there was something else, at the beginning it was not like that (...) with the previous coordinator... I think that when she (the previous coordinator) went to the PB, she studied participation, so she idealized the PB a lot, she did not have a…I do not know if she had a deeper engagement with the political projects of the city, then I think she had something kind of ... not impartiality, it was a professional job… 'We are here to do the PB'. I think with the second coordinator, as he was close to the political group of the mayor, as he had a relationship with and could understand the councilors... he had a better understanding of the machine and of policy, the policy game in which he had interests... When you invested in a certain building in the community, sometimes it was the social base of a councilor... because the PB did a lot of that, right? The councilors used to patronize things (referring to the communities achievements with the government) PB takes away this sponsorship... so I think he knew how to deal with these issues better... the territories that were linked to the... public administration, council members and the relationship with city hall itself (...) He did negotiation processes in the community, they gathered people and negotiated at the time: 'you cannot do this, what can we do instead? And if we do that, will it be better? 'So there was also this closer contact with the community.”
The role of PB coordinator is a complex position. The person who holds this position is the link between the population and the political power (not always allies) in the territories and in the municipal government. He assumed this position at a time of a high level of dissatisfaction. The first two years of the PB in Fortaleza (2005/2006) were marked by a euphoria regarding popular participation however there was frustration due to the incapacity of the process to carry out the numerous demands of the population.
Thus, the co-production of this CTP is the coordinator himself since his management was admittedly better, along with the mayor who appointed him to take the job.
There is also the coincidence that the former PB coordinator left the PB in order to study abroad thus leaving the coordinator’s post empty.
05 january 2006/ 15 december 2007 - The years of 2006/2007 were the first years of the PB in Fortaleza. They were confused years for the PB with a lot of frustration felt by the population in general (many of the demands were not met) and also for the team who on a daily basis had to solve the problems that were caused by the city hall and the: "Because the first cycle was confused and formed list of demands with no relation to the resources available, the PB was raising expectations however with low functionability. There was a high level of demand and limited implementation".
15 march 2008 – PB coordinator replacement. The former coordinator resigned to study abroad and the new coordinator was indicated and took office: "I think they took advantage of the moment, because as they had to indicate someone, they let it be someone who could fulfill this role". The Coordenadoria de Participação Social (Coordination of Social Participation) was created into the structure of the city hall, which is responsible for the PB and the articulation of all organized social movements.
10 march 2009 –The PB cycle change. There was an implementation of the budget priority which meant that there was a change in the PB format considering the methodology of the budget limit and the priority of demands in the assemblies: "it became more planned (...) he was placed there to fulfill this role, to do things and to meet the interests of the city hall".
3 march 2010 – With a more mature process, the PB is restored.
There was contestation at the beginning of the PB: "I think we had a sector that believed in the PB to really manage the city, and there were sectors that criticized the PB (the fact that the population was able to define how the city hall should spend its resources).
From the point of the view of the interviewee there was another contestation in the period in which the PB was restored in 2010. At this time, one of the changes was exactly the transparency of the part of the municipal budget from which the people could access. At first it was clearly important for the demands to be limited and consequently accomplished, however this caused dissatisfaction regarding the limit as well as the small proportion of resources used in the PB:
"When it started there was not a determined budget amount, how much there was available for a multitude of proposals. Then it was defined that the PB would have a certain part of the budget. Who resisted, resisted because they started to find the budget too small".
Even with the possibility to carry out the demands during the second period, part of the population contested it.
The two mentioned disputes could not be resolved, because they were part of the reality. Thus, people who were dissatisfied with these two conditions moved away:
"We had people who thought that the coordinator was very connected with the city hall, that he was serving the interests of the city hall. On the one hand he had greater articulation, but on the other... I think I could not agree... there was a loss of political control and it was a time of manipulation in the city ??(referring to councilors that before the PB were taken as the "authors" of the works done by the city hall).
When the new coordinator took over, it was more clear to the participants of PB that he would have better conditions to work, due to his knowledge about the city and its political forces, due to his knowledge and proximity to the political group in power, and due to the autonomy that he had with the mayor: "There were expectations... thinking of the good that his proximity would facilitate... but there were people linked to the former coordinator who saw otherwise.
The learning with this CTP is the understanding of how politics works in this country. The interviewee who today is a leader in the União Nacional dos Estudantes (UNE - National Union of Students; which is an organization of young students) learned about the political game and how to adapt to it:
“Pragmatism makes things run faster. Political skill is a learning experience. We learn that we have to know the rules of the game to be able to play it, even if you do not agree with them, the rules are set. Even if you want to change them later, you enter the game with those rules to be able to change them after (...). The two PB moments shaped me a lot. The moment caused me to think about how the logic of society’s power interferes with the public vision and public administration... Which has harmed public opinion? It is also addicted to a particular vision of pragmatism and how the rules of the game are given. The PB taught me that it is always worth listening to what the people want, to make it work... this is the skill of the political game, to know with whom it relates, and when and who the allies are (...) the structures are strong and it is not possible to change them that much".
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