| This thesis focuses on Brazil's Health Councils (Conselhos de Saude) to explore challenges in institutionalizing civil society participation. By conducting interviews with Health Council members at the municipal, state and national levels, this thesis examines how Health Councils operate and identifies some of the challenges evident in institutionalizing civil society participation. The thesis reports that Health Councils lack autonomy from the government to fulfill their mandate, membership guidelines limit the level of inclusion of civil society members, government representatives manipulate other members and provide limited support for Health Councils. In addition, it also reports that there is a lack of resources necessary to run Health Councils, there is an inadequate level of training of Health Council members, and there is a reported strong sense of individualism amongst members. These issues appear to have an impact on Health Councils' ability to successfully fulfill their mandate. |
