This article is written by Diogo Coelho, Public Policy and Governmental Management Specialist, In collaboration with the LAEP team: Enzo Mayer Tessarolo, Artur Kjá, Camila Moreira, Isadora Hertz.

We started 2020 with a plan for LAEP, the Innovation Laboratory of the Rio de Janeiro State. We projected key results that would indicate the achievement of our strategic objective of consolidating the Lab as a creative space in government for re-framing problems, developing solutions and spreading the culture of innovation among the state servers.

The first two months went roughly according to plan. Then came the month of March and with it, the arrival of the new coronavirus pandemic in Brazil. Following the recommendations by the World Health Organization and epidemiologists to social distance, public servants in the administrative sectors of government began to work remotely. Meetings, events and face-to-face workshops — key parts of our plan for 2020 — probably won’t happen for a long time.

Suddenly, all areas of government had to review their plans and methods of work. LAEP was no different. But we soon realised that the mentality of the laboratory and our experience with agile methodologies and virtual tools would help us adapt to the new and unexpected reality.

What could we do to collaborate in combating the pandemic and its effects on people's lives?

At the same time, we realised that sharing our knowledge with other public servants working in the state had to be our primary mission in this new reality.

Thus, in the first week of working from home, we updated, in partnership with the Human Resources Superintendence of the Civil House, the Best Practice Guide for Distance Work with tips of techniques and tools to help leaders and teams adapt. Thousands of people received the document, which was later included in the bibliography of courses of the state and national school of public administration.

Once the guide had been produced and disseminated, it was time to look at our previous planning and readjust it. How could we carry out the programmed workshops about empathy, collaboration and experimentation in the public sector? Would a hackathon still be possible this year? How will interaction with agencies and entities be more effective in capturing demands for re-framing problems and developing solutions? What about our cultural actions of innovation, originally conceived as spaces for the gathering of people and close contact between those interested in innovating? In the midst of all these questions, one arose with a sense of urgency: what could we do to collaborate in combating the pandemic and its effects on people's lives?

What we learned from social distancing

We were then trying to unravel issue by issue and looking for possible ways and convergences.

We started to redesign our collaboration and experimentation workshop using the virtual tools available. At the same time, we activated our collaborative network among specialists in public policies working in several departments, engaged in search of solutions to combat inequality.

Based on this network, with the leadership of a colleague who specialised in health management, we decided to implement our redesigned virtual workshop to design solutions for vulnerable people who are affected by the pandemic. The end result was two solutions we designed and presented to the Department of Health.

The experience with the online collaborative dynamics that we acquired in the workshops with the network of managers to design health solutions, and in the daily routine of LAEP's internal organisation, was decisive in keeping the lab’s pre-existing projects on track. The development of tools and models for socially distant work and the routines of calls and remote workshops have given us important know-how to continue LAEP’s activities during quarantine.

Within our possibilities, with our successes and mistakes, we strive to give our direct or indirect contribution to the citizens of the state in this serious moment that humanity is going through

We also soon realised that the performance in social networks, which started in late 2019, became even more important in the new context, not only due to the prohibition of other means of action, but, above all, due to the potential that the networks would acquire due to the search for content by the socially isolated people in their homes. We added our Instagram account with posts about our production and numerous online events to which we were invited to participate, as well as with the dissemination of events organised by our partners in the innovation network. All of this is organised through daily distanced meetings between members of our team.

Of course, we can’t say that our projects were not affected by the sudden changes caused by the pandemic. In addition to all the re-planning of actions already described, some initiatives had to be stopped. For example, support for the State Plan for Innovation and Educational Technology run by the Department of Education, or participation in innovation culture events with civil servants from different municipalities in the state.

How will the pandemic look in the rear view mirror?

What we can say so far from living through this pandemic is that this new and unexpected context has accelerated the processes of using technological and collaborative tools, becoming a critical point and a challenging element to advance the culture of innovation in the public sector.

Here from our corner at LAEP, we are proud of everything we have produced over these months, and for having the work recognised by our partners within and outside the state government. Within our possibilities, with our successes and mistakes, we strive to give our direct or indirect contribution to the citizens of the state in this serious moment that humanity is going through. Remembering that one day, it will all pass. But when it does pass, we want to have left a seed for us to come out of this — as civil servants and society — stronger, and as thinking, empathetic and creative beings. — Diogo Coelho

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