RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Rio de Janeiro’s city government yesterday, May 6th, re-launched the City Council, which aims to prepare the strategic planning for the coming years and monitor its implementation.
Comprising 350 people distinguished by their personal or professional performance in the most diverse areas, the council has held its first meeting on Thursday and will hold another one to define the priorities for the city and should present the planning at the end of June, as provided for in the city’s Organic Law.
According to the Secretary of Finance and Planning, Pedro Paulo, the council concept came from mayor Eduardo Paes’ previous administrations, and now the model has been resumed in an expanded form. He said that, from the beginning, there was interest in broadening the debate and including more people in the planning.
“As early as 2015, we built a much bolder vision, thinking about the city for the next 50 years ahead. This program is not just a plan that sits on the desk of public offices, it has a huge set of developments within the public administration. Each goal that is defined will be established in management contracts signed with each department,” Pedro Paulo emphasized.
At the launching ceremony, Mayor Eduardo Paes stated that the strategic planning goals should reflect the dreams about what is expected for the city.
“We have to think big, let’s stop thinking small. Yes, it is possible to set bold goals to reduce poverty in the city. It is possible, yes, to be clear about which areas of economic development we can attract to the city,” said Paes.
The mayor also mentioned the protagonism that Rio de Janeiro must recover. “How do we get back to creating jobs and income, how do we improve people’s living conditions. This is the challenge this team has: to think boldly. When you do strategic planning, you have to think about dreams, about what we want to be when we grow up.”
“Governments pass,” and the priority agenda should be a commitment of the city, not of a specific administration, stressed the mayor.
In addition to the City Council, a digital platform was launched for online surveys, which can be answered through the website participa.rio/retomada.
According to the undersecretary for Planning and Monitoring Results, Jean Leonardus Caris, the work will be focused on 5 areas. The first survey, which runs until May 20th, is about strategic planning, and another will take place between May 21st and June 4th, to work with the goals to be achieved. Then, a new consultation is planned on the implementation of this planning to address the initiatives, Caris detailed.
Caris said that the other points of attention will be the inclusion of young people, the promotion of regional engagement with deputy mayors and regional administrators, and the opening of a specific space in the polls and working groups for children’s involvement.