Relational analysis of the brazilian school nutrition program: Releving institutional dimensions of local implementation processes

Abstract

This paper sought to elucidate an institutional dimension of analysis of the implementation of the Brazilian School Nutrition Program (Pnae). The research was interpretative and descriptive, with a qualitative approach, and used as a strategy the study of cases of the municipalities of Espera Feliz and Guaraciaba, Minas Gerais state. The research confirmed the thesis that interactions between different actors in the Pnae implementation process produces effects on the behavior of these actors and, more specifically, allows the construction of rules that constrain and enable their actions, producing new patterns of interactions and conditioning the way the program is implemented locally. Institutional analysis also reveals that interactions between actors and the “implementation game” imply institutional changes that are inherent in the attempt to bring the program closer to local reality.