Before the start of the International Seminar in Brasilia, representatives from nine countries visit a Social Assistance Reference Center in Rio de Janeiro
Foreign information systems managers at CRAS Rinaldo de Lamare
Brasilia, 4 April 2016 – During a visit to the Rinaldo De Lamare Social Assistance Reference Center (CRAS), which serves Rio de Janeiro´s two largest communities, Rocinha and Vidigal, managers of public policy database and information systems from nine different countries were able to learn at first hand from Brazil´s experience and know-how in the construction of the Unified Registry for Social Programs (CadÚnico) and to exchange views on the institutional and technological management of the systems.
The meeting of experts in Rio de Janeiro precedes the International Seminar on the Integration of Database and Information Systems for Public Policy Improvement, on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brasilia (5 and 6 April).
The Rio de Janeiro meeting was also an opportunity for Brazilian CadÚnico managers to share their nationwide experience with managers of other large registries that contain the details of millions of Brazilian citizens. These include the registries maintained by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, the Superior Electoral Court and the Ministry for Women, Racial Equality, Youth and Human Rights.
The question of integration is one of the greatest challenges common to all the different databases. According to Joana Mostafa, Director of the Unified Registry in the Ministry of Social Development and Fight against Hunger (MDS), ” the 30 social programs that use the Unified Registry do not feed data into the CadÚnico: each program has its own culture for dealing with the beneficiary public. It is often the case, for example, that while citizens are required to provide the same documents over and over again, these are not fed back into the main registry. The greatest challenge we now face is how to integrate the data from the many databases and achieve the goal of serving those who matter most – our citizens.”
Database integration can reflect a move towards greater integration policies in general. It leads to more efficient public spending and a better response to the population´s demands. It is clearly a challenge not only for the wealthier countries but also for poorer ones.
At the seminar, experts from countries such as Australia, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina and Latvia that have made progress in reducing the fragmentation of their systems will present the challenges they have faced, as well as models of successful integration and interoperability. Representatives from Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica and Russia will also participate in the seminar discussions on possible ways to achieve this common goal.
This invitation-only seminar has been organized by the MDS National Secretariat of Citizenship Income (SENARC) in partnership with the Brazil Learning Initiative for a World without Poverty (WWP), which will produce reports, photos and videos of the two days of discussions.