Oficina Municipal
Sao Paulo - Brazil
Oficina Municipal is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation created in 2002 by professionals and entities interested in issues concerning the improvement of local government and social development. Oficina Municipal emerged from the activities conducted by Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Brazil related to local policies. It has the same philosophical orientation as Konrad Adenauer Foundation principles, such as solidarity, orienting relationship among mankind; subsidiarity, orienting collaboration among major and minor communities; and sustainability, orienting human intervention in nature.
Because of the re-democratisation and decentralisation processes faced by Brazil since 1988, Oficina Municipal has elected to work at local level to empower local communities and governments and, therefore, to improve service deliver to civil society and social justice. It believes that economic, social and sustainable development and the human rights accomplishment will only come true when local actors, efficiently and effectively, administrate public policies, and as long as they are involved with the common good construction. That means they should allocate local resources – regionally available – through institutional articulation and people’s development.
Oficina Municipal activities are oriented towards Municipal Chambers (‘Câmaras Municipais’), Municipalities (‘Prefeituras’/`Municípios´), Local Associations, Intermunicipal Consortiums, Business Forums, Civil Society Municipal Councils (‘Conselhos Municipais’), Non-Governmental Organisations, Citizens and Civil Society Organisations, involved with local public policies and regional development.
It has a wide and unique experience in capacity building process and is being working to identify existing institutions and new ones to (i) cover a lack of articulation space, (ii) to implement a new institutional framework based on solidarity. Every year, since its creation, it provides many opportunities of courses and workshops; publications and events; local diagnosis for municipalities and partnerships among different stakeholders within local level.
The director of Oficina Municipal and leader of the current project is José Mario Brasiliense Carneiro, known by his work with the public sector. He has worked for the Foundation for Administrative Development (FUNDAP), in the State Government of São Paulo, developing the management policy and management systems for Water Resources and Environment. Through this experience he noticed that local and regional spheres of government are strategic in a country like Brazil with great distances between towns and complex challenges to be overcome in the social and environmental fields.
After that, for ten years, Mr. Brasiliense-Carneiro has been a staff member of Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Brazil, where he was responsible for institutional relations, scientific coordination and also for the analyses of Brazilian federal political framework. During this period he has developed the idea of an inter-sectorial and inter-federative management model for public policies, the scientific base of Oficina Municipal’s work. Counting with his systemic view of public policies development, he has been playing a role as a mediator among those different political actors assisting municipalities of São Paulo State since 2004.
Contact Information:
José Mario Brasiliense Carneiro
Oficina Municipal Director
Rua Pe. Garcia Velho 73, cj 61/64
Cep 05421-030 São Paulo SP -Brazil
Phone: (55 11) 3032 4330