High expectations, varying outcomes: Decentralization and participation in Brazil, Japan, Russia and Sweden

In the past 20 years, decentralization has been proposed as a strategy for enhancing public participation. Aid-providing organizations, such as the World Bank, stimulated decentralization processes in several countries in the hope that this would promote civic empowerment, diminish corruption, enhance efficiency, and improve public service delivery. This assumption forms the basis for a comparative analysis into the relation between decentralization and participation at the local level in Brazil, Japan, Russia and Sweden. A multi-level regression analysis using the data of the Democracy and Local Governance Project was undertaken in order to test the 'one size fits all' and the 'diversity in development' hypotheses. The results show that the second hypothesis was corroborated. Perceived autonomy had a different impact on openness to participation depending on the country considered; in one country (Japan), perceived autonomy diminished public officials' willingness to be open to public participation.

Forum: social network for the surveillance and prevention of workplace accidents

In 2008, academic researchers and public service officials created a university extension studies platform based on online and on-site meetings denominated "Work-Related Accidents Forum: Analysis, Prevention, and Other Relevant Aspects. Its aim was to help public agents and social partners to propagate a systemic approach that would be helpful in the surveillance and prevention of work-related accidents. This article describes and analyses such a platform. Online access is free and structured to: support dissemination of updated concepts; support on-site meetings and capacity to build educational activities; and keep a permanent space for debate among the registered participants. The desired result is the propagation of a social-technical-systemic view of work-related accidents that replaces the current traditional view that emphasizes human error and results in blaming the victims. The Forum uses an educational approach known as permanent health education, which is based on the experience and needs of workers and encourages debate among participants. The forum adopts a problematizing pedagogy that starts from the requirements and experiences of the social actors and stimulates support and discussions among them in line with an ongoing health educational approach. The current challenge is to turn the platform into a social networking website in order to broaden its links with society.

UNASUR: insfrastructure for regional integration

Includes bibliography

Science and technology policies in open economies: the case of Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Infrastructure and economic growth in Peru

Includes bibliography

Professores de artes: formação continuada e os reflexos na sala de aula das séries iniciais

Pós-graduação em Artes - IA

A produção textual escrita de alunos de 8. série do ensino fundamental

Pós-graduação em Educação - IBRC

O Programa Escola da Família e o protagonismo juvenil: um panorama de 2003 a 2006

Pós-graduação em Educação - IBRC

Gestão democrática do ensino público: um estudo do Conselho Municipal de Educação de Rio Claro no período de 1997 a 2004

Pós-graduação em Educação - IBRC

A natureza e a relação sociedade-natureza na memória de velhas professoras

Pós-graduação em Educação - IBRC

Saberes profissionais do professor de matemática: focalizando o professor e a álgebra no ensino fundamental

Pós-graduação em Educação - FCT

O professor coordenador na rede oficial de ensino de Estado de São Paulo: um estudo sobre a (re)construção de sua ação pelo cotidiano

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

O trabalho docente para além do ensino: o uso do tempo destinado ao preparo de aula por professoras alfabetizadoras de escola estadual de ciclo I do ensino fundamental

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

O professr coordenador das escolas públicas estaduais paulistas: análise das condições de trabalho e a contrução do projeto político-pedagógico

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Arte-educação, criatividade, percepções: um olhar sobre o programa escola da família

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)