Women and children first: street-level policy entrepreneurship at the Viva Vida Centers of the south east macro-region -MG

Abstract

The literature on policy entrepreneurs has mainly focused on high-level decision-makers, ignoring low and middle-level bureaucrats. However, in light of their close position to citizens and the nature of activity, some recent works have been linking street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) with policy entrepreneurship. They highlight the use of entrepreneurial strategies by SLBs to influence policy via implementation practices and/or policy design. Immersed in a broad network that provides health services to children and women in all three levels of health assistance, Viva Vida Centers' (CVV) SLBs are in a very similar context to those normally approached in literature. Thus, this works main objective was to investigate the engagement of SLBs within CVVs Viçosa and Manhuaçu in entrepreneurial strategies to shape policy through implementation practices and/or directly influence policy design. Data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews with bureaucrats Cvvs Viçosa and Manhuaçu. The results report the case of CVV Manhuaçu's former manager (I3). The case is chronologically divided into two distinct moments, considering the policy process literature. In the first moment, the manager of CVV Manhuaçu from 2010 to 2017, prompted by a lack of guidance for implementation and a high level of discretion, framed problems, planned processes, diffused her vision and actively led her team, successfully outlining the Center’s prototype, securing smooth implementation through consolidating strategies. Years later, when when a top-down change in policy struck, leaving hundreds unassisted, she ultimately acted to reinsert the issue of sexual violence and abuse victims into the official government agenda, aiming to promote policy change at the isntituciinal level. It is argued that the use of entrepreneurial strategies can increase the chances of success for street-level bureaucrats in influencing policy outcomes, thus it is important to promote proactivity among the street-level bureaucracy, and place at their reach, political and governance instruments for political participation, once just favorable personal traits might not enough sometimes. Keywords: Entrepreneurship. Policy Entrepreneruship. Street-level bureaucracy. Street-level policy entrepreneurship. Policy process. Policy change.