Information management hits and misses in the COVID19 emergency in Brazil

Brazilian Federal Government created an emergency aid to face the COVID19 emergency. This aid provides monthly payments to low-income or unemployed citizens, informal workers, or individual micro-entrepreneurs. An intricate set of criteria made too complex the identification of all citizens eligible for emergency aid, considering there is no an integrated database to which they could apply these criteria. Consequently, lots of people who fulfilled the criteria were not able to receive the aid, and lots of people who were not supposed to get it ended up receiving it. In this context, the goal of this opinion paper is to discuss the process effectiveness and which issues related to information management hindered the positive program impact. Additionally, a less complex but relevant case of Rio Grande do Sul State is discussed. Both cases – the Federal Government and the state government – show the importance of effective information management to face very demanding situations and avoid the high social price to be paid by those who need this aid the most.