The Brazilian Senate will be represented at the 6th Evaluation Week in Schools of Government (SAEG), taking place this week (September 14 and 15, 2023) at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The coordinator-general of ILB/Interlegis, Luís Fernando Pires Machado, will explain the work of Instituto Legislativo Brasileiro [Brazilian Legislative Institute - ILB] and its search for more partnerships, both inside and outside the country.

Now in its 6th edition, SAEG has established itself as a space for negotiation between government schools and international organizations, and sharing these experiences can result in cooperation agreements between the bodies. The focus is on finding solutions in the public sector to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. This is a global agenda, defined in 2015 by the United Nations, with 169 goals to be achieved over the next seven years.

The theme of SAEG in 2023 is innovation and sustainability, subjects that are part of the courses and workshops offered by ILB/Interlegis. There are already almost 800 technical cooperation agreements (ACTs in the original acronym) in force, most of them involving city councils and state senates. And the parameters of Goal 17, which regards the global partnership for sustainable development, have been part of the training and capacity building developed by the Brazilian Senate's school of government since 2017. In the last two years, ILB/Interlegis has added a course on sustainable government procurement to its list of courses offered, aiming to bring public managers of legislative houses and other public bodies into line with Law 1433/2021—the new procurement law.

In a panel on Thursday (14), Luís Fernando Machado will talk about this set of courses and workshops, which are aimed at the staff of the Brazilian Senate and external bodies. "This year alone, ILB's training coordinator has already carried out 55 educational activities, training almost 1,000 people, and with quality," says the professor. Machado also highlights the postgraduate courses offered by the institute, which are well evaluated by the Ministry of Education. The Brazilian Senate representative will also draw attention to ILB/Interlegis' openness to new partnerships.

"Schools of Government are essential for building technical skills and for the professional development of public officials. In this sense, we are open to cooperation with other schools of government and international organizations in order to build increasingly efficient, technologically advanced, and transparent parliaments," says Machado.

This task should be made easier by an unprecedented aspect of the 6th SAEG: intentionally, the event will not be mediated by heads of state. The dialog on Cooperation will take place directly with the representatives of the schools of government, which should facilitate the exchange of experiences with the international community and the drafting of cooperation agreements, including with other foreign organizations.

The event is organized by the Brazilian Cooperation Agency/Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Brazilian Association of Legislative Schools (Abel), the National Council of Secretaries of Administration (Consad), and the Rui Barbosa Institute.