University of São Paulo: Guide teaches young people to prepare bills and explains how they are processed in the National Congress
An initiative by researchers and students from USP’s School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities (EACH) aims to help the population in general, and especially young people, to understand how laws are made and how they are processed in the National Congress. This is the guide How to Elaborate: Bill? , which is available for free download on the internet at this link .
The publication is the result of a series of activities, lectures and training organized by Centro Acadêmico Herbert de Sousa (CAHS) and Empresa Jr. Vertuno Consultoria, from the EACH Public Policy Management Course, in the 2020 edition of the Brazilian Youth Parliament. The material is also complementary to the face-to -face and virtual workshops held during the Public Policy Management Week at the East Zone campus.
“The creation and availability of this booklet was a huge step so that access to information on public policies is increasingly expanded to the population, which has greater weight when it is done by students and people who believe in the transforming power of public policies”, highlights Heloisa Barros, third year student of the Public Policy Management course and president of CAHS.
The material was coordinated by graduate Ergon Cugler de Moraes Silva and student Cristine Rodrigues de Almeida Silva, both from the Public Policy Management course and also former participants in the institutional program of the Chamber of Deputies, the Young Brazilian Parliament, respectively 2015 editions. -16 and 2020-22.
“The idea is to present young people with a tool for them to understand themselves as citizens in society and who know how to influence bills and, in addition, to show society as a whole that young people are not just the future of the country, but the present as well, being able to elaborate public policies in a qualified and mature way”, emphasizes Ergon.
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Young people’s political participation
Ergon explains that about 80 high school students from all over Brazil annually undergo a selection process to have the opportunity to experience the parliamentary routine in Brasília for a week, studying budgetary adequacy, principles of the Constitution and the dynamics of of the Legislature. “We left this week with the mission of replicating the lessons learned so that more young people can understand themselves as citizens, with these being able to create laws and take proposals to their respective spheres”, he said. The idea of the guide was born in this context, to provide accessible material for those who wanted to assemble their own Bill.
“The writing of this booklet is essential to encourage the increase of the insertion of youths in representative political spaces”, says Cristine Rodrigues, who is also president of Vertuno and is in the second year of the Public Policy Management course. “It is very important that young people have access to free quality knowledge – such as this booklet – to feel secure when occupying these places. Nowadays, the number of people in the youth group within the political-legislative environment is very low, even though it craves and needs powerful young people interested in the construction of public policies, and this booklet is a great step to break this scenario and strengthen democracy. through the strength of youth.”
The institutional launch of the guide was carried out in July, in the municipality of Praia Grande, in a choice that took into account the engagement of the city on the coast of São Paulo in the theme of youth and the receptivity of the Escola do Legislativo and the Youth Parliament of Praia Grande in the City Council.
The event was organized by the organizers of the Youth Parliament, Isaac Santos dos Santos and Marcio Glauber Vicente de Oliveira Alemão, and was welcomed by the president of the School of the Legislative, Rodrigo Rosário dos Santos, and featured a presentation on the material at the inauguration of the councilors- children elected for the institutional program in the city.