Participatory Budget Planning and Regionalization: considerations on the Plan Plurianual of Pará State, Brazil - 2007 to 2010

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to bring reflections on the use of regionalization of the Para state territory (Brazil) on the participatory process applied on the Project Plurianual (PPA) of 2008- 2011 during the period of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Event) in this State. The option on the participatory method to be followed by state government management represents an initiative that seeks to apply previous experience at the municipal level in the state management. This text discusses the limits and possibilities of this practice that proved to be critically dependent on the coalitions and conflicts own of political context. It is divided into five parts, including an introduction. In the first there is information about the territory space in analyzes and the objective of this work. In the second, there is a discussion on regionalization in the planning process of State preparation of PPA. The third presents the conception of the plan, the participatory methodology and the share of budget bands within policy program for each region, by what was decided in the participatory process. In the fourth, there is a discussion management aspects related with the implementation of the plan. It was chosen to explore some facts that occurred when the plan was under discussion in the State Assembly and their repercussions in the state government in order to propose an analysis of limits and advances of the planning process in Pará state. Although the study did not assess the result of implementing the component programs of public policies in the state, the text draws conclusions on the extent of use of the regionalization of the territory and the participatory process. Finally, in the last section are some conclusions, in order to posterior contributed to further analysis of the relationship between the government, regionalization and policy implementation at the state level.