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The Transparent Municipality Project, sponsored by Techint E&C, has increased transparency in public administration by up to 200% in two municipalities in Minas Gerais

Published 6.5.2021

Carried out jointly by the Ethos Institute and Agenda Publica, the program has been applied in Patrocinio and Serra do Salitre for the last two years.

After two years of work, the Transparent Municipality program, sponsored by Techint E&C and implemented by the Ethos Institute and Agenda Publica, has completed its course in the cities of Patrocinio and Serra do Salitre, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The two municipalities began their journey in April 2019, when public transparency indicators were lower than the national average. Since then, they have transformed their administrations, taking a leap forward to a more open, transparent and ethical form of government. In Serra do Salitre, indicators have improved by 233% since the project began, reaching a satisfaction rating of 79; while in Patrocinio, there was an improvement of 57%, with a final score of 63.

The municipalities are evaluated according to the Transparent City (Cidade Transparente) indicator, a project drawn up by the Ethos Institute that analyzes government initiatives to tackle corruption and promote transparency. In Brazil, the average at the national level is 43%.

In concrete terms, the main results achieved by both cities included improvements in performance at a departmental level, making it easier to coordinate and implement actions and processes; the creation of a roadmap showing the principal challenges, with a focus on transparency and internal controls; increased access to public services; the creation of an Internal Control System, and the restructuring of the Patrocinio Municipal Public Defender’s Office. When the restrictions to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic were introduced, the training sessions were shifted online.

Agenda Publica was responsible for coordinating and deploying the range of capacity-building actions leading to the implementation of public policies in the field of Open Government. A total of 30 public officials from both municipalities were trained in key areas such as transparency, collaboration, internal control, innovation, and the fight against corruption.

“The Transparent Municipality Program is a Techint E&C brand, and seeing it applied in Brazil is a source of great pride. We are committed to ethics, compliance and transparency, and we want to bring our values to all the places where we are present. We have achieved extraordinary results in Patrocinio and Serra do Salitre, and we are sure that our cities are ready to build an even better future for themselves,” says Ricardo Ourique, Director General of Techint E&C in Brazil.

Caio Magri, Director General of the Ethos Institute, points out that “increasingly, our experience with the Transparent Municipality Program shows us that through dedication in the use of innovative tools, it’s possible to deploy an ethical and transparent administration, leading to innumerable benefits for society as a whole. The results in Patrocinio and Serra do Salitre show us the potential of this model, which can be adapted for use by all municipalities in Brazil, regardless of their size.”

The Transparent Municipality Program, which has no costs for the cities involved, was applied in six municipalities in the district of Parana in 2018, with the support of Techint E&C, seeking to encourage the adoption of ethical practices and develop actions aimed at fostering Open Government and public integrity. The training was provided for public officials with a focus on ethics, internal controls, transparency, and the use of instruments to improve active transparency. Of the six municipalities joining the project, five have already begun to exceed the national Transparent City indicator average.

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