DevInfo in Action - Brazil: Using DevInfo to Publicize Metropolitan Data

Brazil: Using DevInfo to Publicize Metropolitan Data (3 December 2010)

True to its name, the city of Campinas was formerly blanketed by thick grass fields covering gently rolling hills. Since then, Campinas (the name actually means “grass fields” in Portuguese) has grown to become the tenth richest city in Brazil and a leading center for research, academia and high-tech industries - giving rise to the city’s new moniker as the “Silicon Valley of Brazil.”

One of the latest electronic products to emerge from this constantly innovating city is a new online database - OMI-RMC, which is short for Observatório Metropolitano de Indicadores da Região Metropolitana de Campinas. The first metropolitan database of its kind in the country, OMI-RMC contains census and local survey data on Millennium Development Goals (MDG) indicators for the Campinas Metropolitan Region of Sao Paulo state, Brazil.

This pioneering online tool was developed by the Campinas Metropolitan Agency – AGEMCAMP – as a vehicle for disseminating data and statistics for the Campinas Metropolitan Region, a cluster of 19 municipalities representing 2.6 million inhabitants.

According to Mateus Vieira Costa, Technical Assistant with AGEMCAMP, the agency had long dreamed of publishing an online database consisting of local socio-economic statistics but had lacked the right software to do so. After researching various options, AGEMCAMP learned of the DevInfo database system.

“We settled on DevInfo because of its ease of use and its ability to store data,” explains Mr. Costa.

AGEMCAMP firmly believes that putting local MDG data into the hands of the public can mobilize local communities to better monitor policies affecting their own socio-economic development. As such, the agency is actively sharing the OMI-RMC database with the local media, government, and area schools and universities.

Furthermore, as part of its strategy to foster greater public dialogue about human development in Campinas, AGEMCAMP plans to seek input from local universities and research centers to guide the expansion of its database and, if necessary, to conduct further data collection and analysis.

The agency plans to present the database and various key findings supported by the data to area schools, municipalities, town councils, trade unions and other civil society organizations, with a view towards engaging all sectors of society in monitoring their own local development.

Location in Brazil
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campinas

Busy crowds in Campinas

Intensity of destitution, 2000

With AGEMCAMP firmly committed to equipping the public with the data required to track its own socio-economic progress, the Campinas Metropolitan Region is well positioned to ensure equitable growth for all sectors of society in the coming days.

Data making a difference.

For more information, please contact Mateus Vieira Costa, Technical Assistant with AGEMCAMP, at
mvcosta@planejamento.sp.gov.br.