Reflections on communication in public policies: proposal for an evaluation model of government communication

Abstract The main proposal of this study is to develop and test an evaluation model of government communication grounded in the field’s theoretical assumptions. The model was applied to the analysis of the Brazilian Policy on Solid Waste, given that this policy has encountered problems in its institutionalization process, when considering the new public management guidelines. Content analysis was applied to the interview transcriptions and to the documents released by different institutional actors from the Ministry of the Environment and municipalities in the Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais. From the data analysis, it is concluded that there is a demand for a particularized communication model that does not develop generalized strategies for public managers, but which considers the local peculiarities and the Brazilian regionalism.