CONTEXTUALIZATION

The Brazilian Institute of Municipal Administration (IBAM) is a non-profit civil association governed by private law that operates in Brazil and abroad, mainly in Latin American and Portuguese-speaking African countries. IBAM works to introduce good management practices in municipal governments and improve federal relations and management decentralization processes in the country, mainly through courses, research and advice to governments. 

One of the focuses of IBAM's activities focuses on helping the consolidation of local actors - government and society - as agents to improve the environmental quality of municipalities and the living conditions of citizens.

The institute seeks to promote the institutional development of municipalities, by strengthening their capacities to formulate public policies, provide quality services to citizens and stimulate local development.

THE PROJECT

The "Environmental Management Qualification Program" project (PQGA) aimed to provide, training in environmental management to public servants and representatives of civil society, predominantly through distance education technology, in addition to providing the exchange of experiences between participants. It also promoted in-person events with a view to raising awareness about the importance of environmental issues for members of the municipal legislative branch, an important target audience in the formulation of local policies.

The PQGA made available technical-legal content to municipalities in the Legal Amazon through a portal on the internet, including the possibility of consulting experts hired by the project. It also provided  access to studies and knowledge related to environmental management.

Furthermore, it held a contest to reward the municipalities that stood out in their performance for the preservation of natural resources and for sustainable local development, as well as promoted in-person activities with municipalities and states to promote the decentralization of environmental management.

INTERVENTION LOGIC

The project is part of the “monitoring and control” component (2) of the Logical Framework of the Amazon Fund. The direct effect expected by the project actions was defined as follows: 2.1 "Municipal institutions of monitoring, control and environmental responsibility better qualified to exercise environmental management".

The actions supported by the project aimed to prevent deforestation by contributing to government actions in the municipalities of the Amazon biome ensure the adequacy of anthropogenic activities to environmental legislation, that is, that productive activities are in accordance with Brazilian environmental legislation.

Click on the following image to view its objectives tree, that is, how the project's outputs and linked to the expected outcomes and impact.

ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED

The activities and deliverables made by the project can be grouped into six components, namely:

• Training focused on environmental management for municipalities that are part of the Amazon biome

The main activities carried out in this component were: (i) construction of the training modules, with structuring of the educational proposal, customization of the technological platform to be used, elaboration of the contents, identification of the topics of interest to the technicians of the municipal environmental agencies (OMMA) and the production of the didactic materials; and (ii) academic management, which involved the monitoring of the classes, the continuous training of tutors and other actions, such as telephone calls and sending messages to encourage participation by the target audience.

In all, 201 courses were offered at the end of the PQGA in 17 topics, with the five most frequent courses being: Municipal Environmental Licensing, Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), Municipal Environmental Management, Introduction to Geotechnology and Solid Waste Integrated Management Plan. 420 municipalities from the nine states of the Amazon Biome participated in this action, with the training of 7,706 people, 4,627 of which were public servants.

• Meetings with municipal legislatures

21 meetings were held in seven states of the Amazon, with the participation of 1,683 people, with 1,230 councilors and 453 advisors. The coordination with the entities representing the councilors were important for the dissemination of the meetings.

Based on the analysis of the information collected, educational lectures were prepared, the book "O Vereador e a Câmara Municipal [The Councilor and the City Council]" was edited and published, and a proposal for an amendment to the Organic Law of the Municipalities and a module in the course dedicated to the legislature was written. Meetings were held in two formats: “Regional Meetings", which promoted the effective participation of councilors and advisors on environmental issues relevant to municipalities and "State Meetings", with the participation of  members of state agencies such as the Court of Auditors, State Secretariats of the Environment and Public Prosecutor’s Office.

• Technical and legal guidance to municipal governments

1,813 new legal opinions and 50 technical notes were prepared. The project registered 449 municipalities that accessed the PQGA portal. 10,266 document downloads were made, considering both the new materials prepared by the PQGA and the IBAM publication base.

The technical notes that aroused greater public interest were on the following topics: “Municipal Environmental Policy", "Specific Instruments, Environmental Control and Promotion of Sustainable Practices and Economic Incentives", representing around 75% of total downloads.

• Learning Communities

The project created learning communities in order to promote the integration of managers and technical teams of the various municipal environmental agencies of the Amazon Biome. It sought to stimulate the approximation of this public and encourage the exchange of materials, knowledge and solutions in the environmental area, through interaction mechanisms in the digital environment.

The Federal Communities (CFs) brought together members of 306 municipalities and a total of 520 participants from the Executive. The Thematic Communities (TCs), meanwhile, gathered 231 participants and were conceived to provide means of continued training for those who have completed PQGA courses, encouraging the development and technical deepening of the contents.

• Award for good municipal practices

The project organized the award for good environmental practices in five categories: (i) territorial and land planning; (ii) environmental monitoring, control and recovery; (iii) sustainable production and incentives for conservation; (iv) socioenvironmental governance and (v) environmental education. For each category, two projects were awarded, one from the municipal governments and the other from civil society organizations. In total, 140 initiatives were awarded from 58 different municipalities, and of these proposals 61 were authorized by the selection committee.

In addition to the ten award-winning practices, a certificate of recognition of merit was granted to the 51 qualified practices, as provided for in the regulations. Below are the award-winning practices. 

•  Decentralization of environmental management

Thirteen meetings were held between state and municipal governments, with the participation of 280 people. The PQGA identified that the greatest obstacle to the decentralization of environmental management is the limited capacity of most municipalities in the region to effectively exercise their functions in environmental control. Considering this restriction, we sought to expand the dialogue between states and municipalities on the subject.

RESULT AND IMPACT INDICATORS

The project activities contributed to the results related to the “monitoring and control” component (2) of the Amazon Fund Logical Framework. Below are the results of the main indicators agreed to monitor the expected direct effect. 

Direct effect 2.1 – Municipal institutions of monitoring, control and environmental responsibility better qualified to exercise environmental management

• Number of public servants trained (output indicator)
  Target: 604 | Result achieved: 4,627
• Number of municipalities using distance training in environmental management (output indicator)
  Target: 302 | Result achieved: 420

The distance learning action, which was one of the main actions of the PQGA, managed to exceed the target of trained civil servants by 667%, reaching 4,627 people.

• Number of face-to-face meetings with representatives of the Municipalities held (output indicator)
  Target: 12 | Result achieved: 21

• Number of councilors participating in-person at awareness-raising events on environmental issues (output indicator)
  Target: 468 | Result achieved: 1,230 (efficacy indicator)

• Number of accesses to the virtual learning community (output indicator)
  Target: 644 | Result achieved: 682

• Number of accesses to the portal on the internet (outcome indicator)
  Target: not defined | Result achieved: 8,419

• Number of technical and legal guidelines provided to the municipalities covered by the project (outcome indicator)
  Target: 1,510 | Result achieved: 1,813

The legal advice provided by the PQGA responded 20% more consultations on the internet portal than the goal established in the project.

• Number of actions/projects registered for the award (output indicator)
  Target: 35 | Result achieved: 140

The high adherence to the awarding of good municipal practices, with four times more registrations than the target, was a significant result that indicates that the project achieved a good presence in the municipalities of the region.

• Number of meetings between municipal and state governments held and actions to support decentralization
  Target: 9 | Result achieved: 11 (output indicator)

• Number of individuals participating in the meetings with representatives of the state and municipal governments of the Amazon Biome and participants in the workshops
  Target: 180 | Result achieved: 925 (output indicator)

Institutional and administrative aspects

After an initial awareness-raising effort, the program for the qualification of environmental management in the states of the Amazon Biome was officially launched, with the first adhesions by the municipalities. The maintenance and strengthening of relations with municipalities, states and local partners was an ongoing challenge throughout the project. 

The PQGA adopted as a mobilization strategy for the execution of the project in the states the articulation with government agencies, municipal entities and institutions of organized civil society. As such, terms of technical and institutional cooperation were signed over the five years of its execution that contributed to the achievement of the results, as well as the construction of a network of partners in the region, namely:

• State Secretariats of the Environment
• State Association of Municipalities
• Institute of Man and Environment for the Amazon (Imazon)
• Green Municipalities Program (PMV/PA)
• Federation of Municipal Associations of the State of Pará (Famep)
• Permanent Forum of Municipal Environment Secretaries of Pará (Fopesmma)
• Mato Grosso Program of Sustainable Municipalities
• Amazon Environmental Research Institute (Ipam)
• Court of Auditors of the Municipalities of the State of Pará
• Permanent Forum of the Municipal Secretaries of Environment of Amazonas (Fopes)
• Institute of Conservation and Sustainable Development of Amazonas (Idesam)
• Center for Technical Cooperation in the Interior (Ccoti)
• Union of Chambers and Councilors of Rondônia (Ucaver)
• Amazon Conservation Team (Ecam)
• National Association of Municipal Environmental Bodies (Anamma)
• Amazon Environmental Protection Institute (Ipaam)
• Amazon Training Network (Recam)
• Forum of Brazilian Capitals
• Brazilian Botanical Gardens Network

Risks and lessons learned

The project worked directly with different agents of the public authorities at the municipal level. It reported that the importance of providing more opportunities for participants in the Legislature to present their opinions on local environmental issues was noted, despite the difficulties represented by the heterogeneity in access to information of this public. It was verified that the success of in-person meetings depends both on the organization of the activities and the contents addressed, as well as on the mediation of conflicts.

In smaller activities, the engagement of other actors, such as participants in Learning Communities and Municipal Environmental Advisors, was important to qualify discussions on the environmental agenda.

It was observed that integrating environmental management qualification activities with large meetings of municipal managers, organized by other institutions, are opportunities to minimize costs, including those related to public travel to these events. 

Sustainability of results

The methodology used in the PQGA may be replicated in new programs to promote environmental management in other Brazilian biomes. The knowledge transmitted about environmental management to municipal administration officials and to members and employees of the municipal legislatures of the Amazon has been incorporated and may be relayed to new public officials at the municipal level who may need this knowledge.

The PQGA incorporated new technologies and social media to mobilize, communicate and coordinate its activities. The program benefited from this window of opportunity represented by the emergence of real-time communication applications on smartphones. Thus, barriers that historically led to the isolation of many municipalities in the Amazon region could be overcome, reducing part of the negative effects of distances and infrastructure shortages. Thus, in addition to serving at scale, the PQGA generated exchange networks in the states, which should continue to bear fruit after the completion of the project.

 The entire technical production of the PQGA (publications, opinions, good practices, study books, as well as other documents and files on environmental management) was gathered by IBAM and is available in the Document Warehouse¹ for free access to all interested parties, allowing the project to continue supporting the environmental management of the country.

¹http://amazonia.ibam.org.br/armazem