Social Observatories and their Importance for Governance in Southern Brazil

Abstract

The social control of public actions and spending has become more and more frequent all over the world. In Brazil, the Federal Constitution of 1988 is the framework of this process, establishing that the control of Public Administration must be carried out by organs of the public power itself and by society. In this sense, the present study aims to analyze the financial benefits and non-financial benefits of Social Observatories in the southern region of the country. Methodologically, data were collected and analyzed on the official site of the Social Observatory of Brazil for the states of Paraná, Santa Cataria and Rio Grande do Sul, for the year 2017. For this, the main result is the undeniable relevance of the paper control of public spending. The financial analysis indicates economicity in all the municipalities in question, varying the percentage, but with significant savings for the public coffers. The non-financial actions carried out by the OSs revolve around the monitoring of bids, meetings with public agents and the dissemination of social control through lectures, courses and training. This indicates the greater knowledge and control of public resources by the population.