The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the strategic role of social care policy to minimize the effects of this health crisis and its consequences on the poorest and most vulnerable population. This article analyzes the perception of street-level bureaucrats in the Brazilian social care network on how the pandemic has affected their performance and professional routine. The research was based on a survey, consultations with representatives of municipal social care services, and analysis of government regulations. The results show that social workers feel unprotected and unable to provide adequate responses to the pandemic’s increasing and urgent demands, revealing a lack of institutional support to act appropriately. The professionals also reported substantial changes in their working dynamics, particularly in their relationship with the attended population, one of the main pillars of the Brazilian social care network. These elements directly affect the provision of social care services and their potential to combat the adverse effects of the crisis.

Studies show that people in vulnerable conditions and some social groups such as women and black people have suffered more intensely from the COVID-19 pandemic impacts. This expression of inequality also manifests itself among healthcare workers, with greater exposure of some specific groups. This paper analyzes the effect of COVID-19 on health care workers and the working conditions in the Brazilian public health system, analyzed from professional, gender, and race perspectives. Data were collected from an online survey of 1,829 health workers conducted in March 2021. Indeed, we identified inequalities in health workers’ experiences during the health crisis generated by COVID-19, which are marked by the profession of each worker and are traversed by their gender and race traits.

Dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic requires that the State make hard decisions that involve the action of bureaucrats who interact with the population through the implementation of public policy, the street-level bureaucracy (SLB). In this paper, based on a mixed- method exploratory study, we analyze how the daily performance of street-level bureaucrats in different policy areas- health and social care, access to the justice system, public security and education - has changed during the pandemic. We also explore the repercussions of those changes. Based on the analysis of the perceptions of bureaucrats, changes in their work and in their relationship with the public, we identify three categories that illustrate the dynamics of SLB work during the pandemic: the SLB who faces the crisis on the front lines; the SLB who suffers the effects of the pandemic, but whose work does not require her to face it directly; and the SLB who began to work remotely. We conclude that, during the pandemic, SLB suffered in varying degrees an aggravation of structural problems, such as their removal from decision-making processes - now restricted to the highest government level - and the exacerbation of already existing conflicts and ambiguities.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the strategic role of social care policy to minimize the effects of this health crisis and its consequences on the poorest and most vulnerable population. This article analyzes the perception of street-level bureaucrats in the Brazilian social care network on how the pandemic has affected their performance and professional routine. The research was based on a survey, consultations with representatives of municipal social care services, and analysis of government regulations. The results show that social workers feel unprotected and unable to provide adequate responses to the pandemic’s increasing and urgent demands, revealing a lack of institutional support to act appropriately. The professionals also reported substantial changes in their working dynamics, particularly in their relationship with the attended population, one of the main pillars of the Brazilian social care network. These elements directly affect the provision of social care services and their potential to combat the adverse effects of the crisis.

Resumo Estudos mostram que pessoas em condições de vulnerabilidade têm sofrido de forma mais intensa os impactos da pandemia de COVID-19, assim como alguns grupos sociais, como mulheres e negros. Essa expressão de desigualdade também se manifesta entre os trabalhadores da saúde, com maior exposição de alguns grupos específicos. Este artigo analisa a incidência da COVID-19 sobre os trabalhadores da saúde a partir das perspectivas de profissão, gênero e raça. Os dados foram coletados por uma survey online com 1.829 trabalhadores da saúde, realizada no mês de março de 2021. Encontramos que, efetivamente, há desigualdades nas experiências dos trabalhadores da saúde durante a crise sanitária gerada pela COVID-19. Essas desigualdades estão marcadas pela profissão de cada trabalhador e são atravessadas por suas características de gênero e raça.

This article investigates the factors that enable cooperation between the state and faith-based organizations (FBOs) in public service implementation. Looking at the Brazilian context, the research explores the consequences of hybridization processes for FBOs and state organizations, as well as for public services. The article analyzes the case of therapeutic communities, FBOs that provide services for drug and alcohol users. Data were collected through documents and 67 interviews with different actors involved in the service implementation. The findings contribute to the literatures on FBOs, hybridization, and institutional fit, showing that the interactions between state organizations and FBOs lead to the inclusion of values and cognitive frameworks for both, generating a mutual constitution between them. The findings show how different types of institutional fit enable cooperation throughout different forms of mediation, which also affect the organizations involved in the cooperation.

The 2019 census identified that São Paulo had a homeless population of 24,344 people, a situation potentially worsened due to the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.  Since the 1990s, a regulatory framework that obliges the municipal Executive Branch to serve this population has been strengthened, including instruments for participation. This article aims to conduct an analysis of this policy, verifying its application through the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the underlying complexity of this population’s living conditions, the authors adopted a vulnerability perspective to develop such an analysis, focusing on institutional vulnerability. Based on this discussion, this study approached the following question: How are the state of São Paulo’s actions related to the homeless population’s vulnerability, and what are the consequences of this condition during the COVID-19 pandemic? Based on qualitative secondary data, this article is presented as a result of the historical survey of the policy to protect the homeless population and the interaction between this population and the State. This article also reviews different forms of vulnerabilities to which the São Paulo homeless population is exposed, and the actions implemented by the government during the pandemic. As a contribution, the authors raise the negative and positive impacts of the state’s actions on the living conditions of this population, adding to the literature on institutional vulnerabilities and directing an investigation of the organizational elements of the public sector that may be associated with these impacts. No censo de 2019, identificou-se que São Paulo tinha uma população em situação de rua de 24.344 pessoas, situação potencialmente agravada pela crise gerada pela pandemia de COVID-19 a partir de 2020.  Desde a década de 1990, um marco regulatório que obriga o Poder Executivo municipal a atender este público tem sido fortalecido, abrangendo inclusive instrumentos de participação. Este artigo tem por objetivo tecer uma análise dessa política, verificando sua aplicação no momento singular que é a pandemia de COVID-19. Compreendendo a complexidade subjacente às condições de vida deste público, adotamos a lente de vulnerabilidades para desenvolver tal análise, com foco especial em vulnerabilidade institucional. A partir dessa discussão, colocamos a seguinte questão: como as ações estatais se relacionam com a condição de vulnerabilidade da população em situação de rua e quais os desdobramentos de tal condição durante a pandemia da COVID-19? Construído qualitativamente a partir de dados secundários, este artigo apresenta como resultados o levantamento histórico da política de proteção à população em situação de rua e os modos de interação entre esta população e o Estado, mais especificamente, o de São Paulo; e as diferentes formas de vulnerabilidades às quais essa população está exposta e as ações implementadas durante a pandemia. Como contribuições, trazemos os impactos negativos e positivos da ação estatal na condição de vida dessa população, agregando à literatura das vulnerabilidades institucionais, além de direcionar uma investigação para os elementos organizacionais do setor público que podem estar associados a esses impactos.