The “Training Course for Trainers on the Strengthening of Collegiate Bodies and Councils” began last Wednesday, August 27. The course is organized by the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic (SGPR) as part of the Training Program for the Strengthening of Collegiate Bodies and Councils.
Researchers Monika Dowbor and Lizandra Serafim, from INCT Participa, are part of the pedagogical committee responsible for the conception and design of the program, alongside members of the National Secretariat for Social Participation (SNPS).
The initiative is part of the “Training Policy for the Strengthening of Social Participation Bodies” and follows the “Recommendations for Collegiate Bodies, Councils, and National Conferences” published by the SNPS in July 2024. The program’s goal is to promote the strengthening of collective bodies and training strategies for national participatory councils, enabling them to reach subnational councils, as well as to foster the development and coordination of sectoral training strategies.
“The first class discussed the role of councils and collegiate bodies in democratic construction, the challenges in fulfilling this role, and possible solutions to these challenges. Some of the issues raised by participants that currently hinder the performance of councils and collegiate bodies include ensuring the necessary structure and resources for their functioning, the systematic and adequate organization of their institutional memory, their articulation across different sectors and federal levels, their capacity to influence public policies, and their resilience under governments less inclined toward participation,” said Lizandra Serafim (UFPB), a member of the INCT Participa Steering Committee.
She also emphasized the importance of knowing the councils, publicizing their work, and communicating more broadly with society:
“It may sound basic, but we actually know very little about the councils across Brazil.”
The researcher pointed out that the OPar (Observatório Participa) of INCT Participa has contributed to the production, organization, and dissemination of relevant data about councils, offering several useful resources for managers, researchers, civil society organizations, and other interested parties. Among these resources are the OPar MUNIC dashboard and the recently released database titled “Deinstitutionalization and Resilience of Federal Collegiate Bodies with Social Participation in Brazil (2019–2022)”, both available on the OPar website.
The course is organized into five modules: The role of participatory collegiate bodies in democratic construction; Functioning of participatory collegiate bodies: composition, representativeness, structure, budget, and digital inclusion; Training strategies and methodologies; Combating inequalities; Public planning and budgeting. The course will be held in Brasília from September to November.
"Curso de Formação de Formadores para o Fortalecimento de Colegiados e Conselhos"
First meeting of the Training of Trainers Course for the Strengthening of Collegiate Bodies and Councils
