Public service management and citizen participation: a study with the beneficiaries of the family allowance program

This paper aims to analyze to what extent the Family Allowance Program [FAP] contributes to strengthening citizens' participation in public services management and to identify the degree of knowledge of the Program Beneficiaries regarding their political rights. For this purpose, theoretical revisions were carried out, which focused on the expansion of the rights and citizens' participation in the light of the Democratic State under the Rule of Law. A multi-case study was carried out with 1,588 beneficiaries from the FAP who benefited from the basic health services in ten municipalities in the State of Bahia. The results show that there is low predisposition to associative life and the participation forums are not identified, hardening the discussion of the collective interest problems, with the predominance of the lack of knowledge concerning political rights. There is low confidence in the legislative and executive branches, and the higher credibility percentages are found at religious institutions (74,1) and residents association, (34,1), which matches other studies realized in Latin America. Accordingly, the conclusion is that the FAP has not performed an emancipating role that is capable of promoting structuring changes, such as expanding predisposition to associative life, participation and knowledge of their Political Rights.