On Tuesday, May 9, in Brasilia, Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Center for the Development of Public Management and Educational Policy (FGV DGPE) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) presented FGV Municipalities, a platform that sets out structured information and innovative solutions to support public managers in all of Brazil’s 5,568 municipalities, as well as the Federal District. The development of this platform was supported by the Brazilian Municipal Administration Institute (IBAM). The presentation took place during the AWS Public Sector Symposium, held by AWS, the world’s most comprehensive and widely used cloud computing platform.

FGV Municipalities compiles information from the country’s main databases. Based on a methodology that considers the different characteristics of Brazil’s municipalities, they are organized into dimensions typical of public functions, and the data is freely accessible to all stakeholders. In addition to indicators for each municipality, associated information is presented in a clear way, such as changes in population and gross municipal product, transfers of resources, investments in health and education, income and indebtedness. The platform can be used to compare information across different municipalities.

Using FGV Municipalities, public managers will be able to prepare and generate personalized diagnoses and action plans, based on responses to questionnaires structured by researchers, data scientists and public policy specialists. In the first stage, it will be possible to generate diagnoses and action plans for education, planning, finance and taxation. Another FGV Municipalities service will be the sharing of solutions and services, involving technical advisory products provided by FGV and its partners.

José Henrique Paim Fernandes, a professor of economics and the dean of FGV DGPE, said that FGV Municipalities will contribute to the development of a new culture of public management in Brazil. “Access to high-quality data and information will enhance municipal managers’ capacity for analysis and contribute to better planning of actions and the successful implementation of public policies,” he said. He added that by making a wide range of information and knowledge available to the public, the platform will also “promote greater transparency and integration between citizens, social groups and government bodies, which are all important stakeholders in the development of municipalities.”

IBAM’s managing director, Paulo Timm, said, “The knowledge present in FGV Municipalities will allow the creation of environments for consulting and sharing strategic information for municipal public management.”

AWS Brasil’s head of public sector services, Paulo Cunha, said, “Access to aggregated data will have a significant impact in multiple areas, such as education, health, financial planning, public pensions and welfare.” As well as providing technical support for the development of FGV Municipalities, AWS donated credits for the use of its services. Hosting this tool in the cloud ensures scalability, high performance, low latency and security in managing user identity and access.

Professor Fernandes stressed that the launch of FGV Municipalities is just the first step. “We are committed to the continuity and improvement of FGV Municipalities through the incorporation of new information. Our goal is to work collaboratively with municipal governments, communities, academia, researchers and specialists at FGV and other institutions,” the dean of FGV DGPE said.