Civil society participation and sexual health policy in Brazil: A critical ethnography of policy-making processes in Pernambuco. (360G-Wellcome-105011_Z_14_Z)

I will use ethnographic research methods and analytical methods from anthropology, policy analysis, organisational behaviour and critical theory to document and examine civil society participation in policy-making in the North Eastern state of Pernambuco, Brazil. I will take a comparative approach, looking at how policy is made (and un-made) within the Conselhos de Saude (councils for structured lay participation in policy-making in Brazils public health system, or SUS), as well as the alternati ve strategies that CSOs use to influence the policy agenda outside of the SUS structure. It will assess the effectiveness of these processes, while also exploring participants perceptions of citizenship and participatory democratic processes in the current socio-political environment. I will conduct this research over the build up to, and following, the National Health Conference in 2015, a hugely significant event in Brazilian health policy-making, held every four years. By gathering compreh ensive qualitative data on this topic my work will contribute to the discussion around how citizens and CSOs communicate their concerns about health and social issues to policy-makers, and the impacts this has on local, national and global health policy.