Guide for Heads of Single-Parent Families - Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

The Guide for Heads of Single-Parent Families aims to train and empower this group in the exercise of the right of access to public information, by bringing them a tool that facilitates the solution of some of their daily problems. The right of access to public information (hereinafter DAIP) is essential in its instrumental role for the full and comprehensive exercise of other fundamental rights like health, work, housing, education, sexual and reproductive rights, and the right to have and form a family. The guide systematizes and concentrates useful and necessary information for this group, such as frequent procedures, medical care, free legal assistance, vocational training programmes and job placement, containment spaces, and other services.

Innovation Summary

Innovation Overview

The Organ Guarantor of the Right of Access to Public Information (OGDAI) of the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) developed a Guide for heads of single-parent families whose objective is to train its recipients in the exercise of the right of access to public information and provide them with useful tools so that they can know and exercise their rights. Faced with the difficulties that this vulnerable group goes through to access information that is disseminated, the Guide systematizes useful and pertinent information for these women, accompanying the exercise of their parental responsibility. Information of interest to this particular group was scattered across different websites and government agencies, and there was no place where it could be obtained in an organized and centralized manner. We have prepared a Guide in digital and physical format that adopts clear language and condenses pertinent information that helps solve daily problems of heads of single-parent families in CABA. It is a practical and innovative solution that does not require many resources to execute and be implemented. The selected group benefits from the innovation, and are in this case women heads of single-parent families belonging to all social classes, with special emphasis on low-income households, as well as other women and people who may have some interest in the information that is compiled.

The proposal helps to reverse the state of vulnerability of an easily identifiable group with precise needs that requires government intervention with concrete solutions for the exercise of their rights. Although the project is directed to all single-parent households with female heads of family in the City, a special focus was placed on low-income sectors, where female heads of family find themselves in charge of the integral maintenance of the home, are exposed to a greater degree of vulnerability, lack protection and necessary resources. A 2017 UNICEF report collected data on child poverty in Argentina, and identified that 52% of single-parent households exhibit indicators of child poverty. It is thus that this initiative implies a concrete advance in the path of the search for equality and the gender perspective in the elaboration and application of public policies. The Guide for Heads of Single Parent Families of CABA concentrates and systematizes useful information for a group that, although it is specific and identifiable, does not have access to channels to information and centralized or clearly defined points of reference. The distribution of the Guides was implemented mainly within the framework of training on DAIP in the territory, through the Community Access to Justice Program (PROJUS) carried out by the Council of the Magistracy and the Territorial Approach Program for Violence for reasons of Gender in popular neighborhoods of the General Directorate for Women. In recent weeks, we have produced a smaller, shorter version of the same resource, which we call a “pocket guide” and makes it easier to distribute. In the future, we plan to continue promoting downloads of the Guide in its digital version and increase the distribution of physical units of the original and pocket guide, through training and networking with other public sector organizations and with more organizations in society. In addition, we seek to continue with the same approach and work, but focusing on other groups in situations of social vulnerability.

Innovation Description

What Makes Your Project Innovative?

It is an unprecedented experience of focused transparency. We selected a group in a situation of vulnerability that had not been taken into account before for the realization of this type of products. Then, we looked at whether the information they needed was produced and then systematized and centralized it into a clear and user-friendly guide to facilitate their access and give visibility.

Innovation Development

Collaborations & Partnerships

The GCBA Secretariat for Gender Equality, D. G. for Women and D. G. for Family provided assistance and advice. The team worked in network with the Directorate of Cooperation and Management under the PROJUS Programme of the Council of the Judiciary and the Territorial Approach to Gender-Based Violence Programme of D. G. of Women, distributing physical guides and providing training. Copies were also distributed through CSOs such as ACIJ and FEIM.

Users, Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

Although the direct users of this product are the heads of single-parent families, the Guide is useful for women in the City of Buenos Aires in general, with a focus on low-income sectors. The material has been distributed through CSOs, health centers, and training programs in the territory of different government agencies that have demonstrated their interest in having the material.

Innovation Reflections

Results, Outcomes & Impacts

So far we have received positive feedback from the coordinators and trainers of the agencies with which we have worked together. The total number of guides distributed as of September 2022 is 1200 physical units. We do not know the scope of the guide in its digital version, since the document has been distributed via e-mail and Whatsapp on many occasions. Currently, we continue to work on dissemination and distribution. In order to measure the impact more precisely, the initiative of conducting a survey with a representative sample of the people who participated in meetings and trainings in which they were distributed was proposed. It is planned to replicate this focused transparency initiative considering other vulnerable groups that do not yet have channels or reference sites to access specific, relevant and useful information for them.

Challenges and Failures

It is an easy project to implement without having to invest a lot of resources to carry it out. In that sense, beyond internal bureaucratic deadlines to follow for approval, implementation and distribution, there have not been major drawbacks. One aspect to consider is the prolific generation of new public information by the State, which means that the useful life of the original product cannot be sustained at 100% in the long term, Therefore, a large-scale vision must contemplate an instance of periodic updating of the information in its physical and digital format. Although up-to-date information is available in the Guide, the pocket version contains few new data that was not available at the time of development of the original version.

Conditions for Success

In the information age, the virality that such products can acquire is very high. In any case, the distribution of the product is perfectible insofar as it is possible to have a distribution network that accompanies and a guiding framework in the delivery of the material in hand. Human resources, as well as personal values and motivation of the work team to present this material to the interested group, is very important to advise women in its use and consultation. In this sense, to have allies that work themes of interest and in the territory of the group to which the Guide is addressed, is essential, so that users can maximize the advantages and opportunities that the material provides.

Replication

Although the Guide for Heads of Single-Parent Families was designed to meet the needs of this group in the City of Buenos Aires, it is a high and easily replicable product in other jurisdictions of the country or even abroad. In fact, the Guide has been presented in international forums for access to information, receiving very good feedback from colleagues in other countries. The possibility of replicating this experience is not limited to geographical criteria but is also adaptable to the specific socio-cultural needs of the different groups that may benefit in each locality.

Lessons Learned

From experience, we learned the importance of accompanying women in their first approach to the Guide. The first impression from the delivery of the physical material can sometimes be to receive one more booklet in the maelstrom of papers that come into their hands daily; however, this changes when sharing with them a moment of exchange and approach of the material, show a great interest in its content, even expressing the will to receive more copies to make them to their peers. In this process, it is extremely gratifying to motivate the women who receive the Guide in the exercise of many of their rights that they thought were non-existent or simply unknown, shedding some light on very complex life experiences or experiences of high difficulty and vulnerability.

🇦🇷