Between August 11 and 14, the Leme team conducted a technical agenda in Ceará to advance the impact evaluation of four PReVio initiatives (Integrated Program for Violence Prevention and Reduction of the State of Ceará): Laboratório de Perícias, InteliGENTES, Virando o Jogo, and PADIN+. The program included technical visits, institutional meetings, focus groups, and testing of research instruments, allowing the team to deepen its understanding of how the programs are implemented and prepare the next stages of the evaluations.

PReVio brings together initiatives focused on preventing and reducing violence through different approaches, including child development, prevention of youth risk trajectories, autonomy for women experiencing violence, and strengthening criminal investigation capacity. The August agenda focused on bringing the evaluation strategies closer to the implementation realities of each initiative, identifying the information, processes, and adjustments needed for fieldwork.

Laboratório de Perícias: strengthening criminal investigation capacity

Laboratório de Perícias is an initiative aimed at strengthening the public security and criminal justice system, with a focus on increasing the capacity to solve homicides and reduce impunity. The program involves investments in technological equipment, particularly in ballistics, fingerprint analysis, and toxicology, as well as expanding access to technology across the state, providing technical training, strengthening forensic infrastructure, and adopting integrated protocols among the agencies responsible for investigations.

Between August 11 and 13, the Leme team conducted a technical agenda at the Ceará Forensic Expertise Center (Pefoce), with meetings and visits to the fingerprint analysis and toxicology departments. The activity provided an opportunity to learn about the equipment acquired, its use workflows, and the expected effects on the quality and speed of forensic reports.

The team also learned about the Galileu system, which is used to record and organize information from different stages of forensic work. The agenda helped deepen the understanding of Pefoce’s operations and advance the impact evaluation, bringing the methodology closer to the processes and challenges found across the different areas of forensic expertise.

InteliGENTES: testing evaluation instruments in the field

InteliGENTES is aimed at students in grades 6 through 9 in the state public school system and seeks to strengthen socioemotional skills and promote a culture of peace through classroom workshops. The impact evaluation will analyze the program’s effects on school climate and the prevention of youth risk trajectories.

From August 11 to 14, Leme conducted a field pilot in five schools in Caucaia, Maranguape, and Maracanaú. The selection included different school profiles, including urban and rural schools of different sizes and levels of performance on the SAEB, with students in grades 5 and 6. The team included Giovanna Úbida, Project Leader; Tony Araújo, a researcher on the team; and Mariana Leite, an affiliated researcher, with support from municipal education coordinators.

During the pilot, two versions of the questionnaires that will be used in the next stages of the evaluation were tested. The instruments seek to measure socioemotional skills, school climate, and experiences of violence and victimization. The team assessed the time required for administration, the clarity of the questions, and the appropriateness of the response scales, identifying adjustments to language and administration that will be incorporated into the final version before it is administered to a larger sample of schools. The agenda also included a visit to the State Department of Education to discuss the progress of the fieldwork.

Virando o Jogo: understanding the challenges of youth retention

Virando o Jogo is aimed at young people aged 15 to 22 who are out of school or in greater socioeducational vulnerability and who do not have formal employment. The initiative combines civic education, focused on young people’s self-awareness, with professional training and incentives to return to school in cases of dropout. The impact evaluation seeks to analyze effects on labor market integration and reductions in involvement in violent and illicit activities.

On August 12, Leme conducted a focus group with program coordinators from Fortaleza, Maracanaú, and Caucaia. The activity sought to map dropout prevention strategies, perceptions of the reasons for disengagement, and processes for actively reaching out to absent young people. The coordinators’ experiences may inform a possible randomized intervention aimed at reducing dropout, one of the strategies being considered in the evaluation.

On August 14, the team piloted the baseline questionnaire at Pracinha da Cultura Vicente Pinzón. The test made it possible to identify bottlenecks in administration and necessary adjustments to the instrument, including the order of questions, the removal of modules with low engagement or comprehension, and the questionnaire’s duration. At the end of the activity, Palloma Marciano, Project Leader, and Júlia Mansur, Public Policy Analyst, spoke with Raissa, the supervisor responsible for the program at the facility, to understand patterns of disengagement and dropout among participating young people.

PADIN+: monitoring implementation to evaluate results

PADIN+ is aimed at socially vulnerable families with children aged 6 to 12, focusing on strengthening positive parenting practices and preventing risks associated with neglect and childhood maltreatment. Through structured home visits and community meetings, the program seeks to produce effects on parenting practices, school and community engagement, and family well-being.

One of Leme’s areas of work in August was the collection, in partnership with the Civil House, of internal data on program implementation. These records will make it possible to monitor activities carried out and calculate the dosage of the intervention received by each family. The information is important for constructing treatment and control groups and planning the administration of the evaluation questionnaires.

On August 13, Palloma Marciano, Project Leader, and Júlia Mansur, Public Policy Analyst, participated in a meeting at the Ceará State Department of Education (SEDUC-CE) with the project coordination team, Juliana Feitosa and Regis Brito. During the meeting, preliminary findings from the Vulnerability Questionnaire, developed by Leme to map the criteria used to select families and construct the control group, were shared. The schedule and logistics for administering the baseline questionnaire were also coordinated.

Progress toward the next stages of the evaluations

The August agenda brought together different areas of the impact evaluation work developed by Leme as part of PReVio. The activities made it possible to test instruments directly in the field, deepen the understanding of implementation processes, and strengthen coordination with the institutions responsible for the programs.

The lessons learned during the visits, meetings, and pilots will be incorporated into the next stages of the evaluations. The work therefore seeks to ensure that the research instruments and strategies are aligned with the characteristics of each initiative and the realities of the territories where the programs are implemented.