The Process of participation in the Social Assistance Municipal Council in São Paulo

Abstract

The study has as goals to identify the profile of action of the elected council members for the Social Assistance City Council of São Paulo and evaluate its conditionings. The research was developed in two steps. The first step was centered on the identification of the levels of presence and manifestation of the council members. On the second step, were performed interviews with two council members of each represented segment (users of the services, workers of the sector, entities of social assistance and the executive power). The research has shown that the most fragile segment is the service users. The representatives of the workers of the sector and of the entities of social assistance are organized and debate their interests in their own forums and in public instances, directing a good part of the subjects. The force of the council members of the executive power becomes patent when it is observed that the most important subjects were carried on by themselves and that there was effort from their part concerning the deliberation of these. Finally, the existence of an asymmetry between the executive power and the civil society, linked to the control of strategic information and to the public budget, evidenced that the COMAS still has not yet transformed into an arena of intermediation between the government and the civil society.

Key-words – Participation. Civilian Society. Council of Public Policies.