Social Control and Social Assistance: aspects of the reality of municipal councils in santa catarina state

Abstract

This article is based on document research to conduct an overview of the development of the attributes of the
Municipal Social Assistance Councils in Santa Catarina State, considering the scarcity of studies about issues related to the
exercise of social control via these councils. The objective is to contribute to the production of information about the reality
of the councils in the state, through the analysis of data contained in the Final Course Reports in 222 municipalities, which are prepared at the conclusion of participation in Training for Municipal Public Agents for Social Control of the Social
Assistance Policy and the Family Grant Program (PBF), undertaken by the Ministry of Social Development and Combatting Hunger in 2010. The study found that council members do not understand their attributes, principally in relation to the approval, accompaniment, evaluation of municipal plans and the financing of social assistance policies. The study also found that decisions are mostly made by administrators, that information presented to the councils is of a technical nature and the procedures are excessively bureaucratic.