Brazil's Social Development Strategy & the Bolsa Família Program, Sept. 27, 2005

Brazil faces particular challenges - and opportunities – in designing and implementing social programs, given its relative size, heterogeneity and decentralized/federative institutional structure.  One of the major recent reforms was the consolidation of four cash transfer programs into a single Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program known as, Bolsa Família (Family Grants Program).  It provides cash transfers to poor families in exchange for their compliance with certain education and health actions.  Efforts are also underway to devise mechanisms to link Bolsa Família beneficiaries to other complementary services and programs, with the program acting as an "integrating force" for social policy, both within the federal government and vertically across levels of government (federal, state and municipal).

Bolsa Família is now the largest CCT program in the developing world, reaching over 7 million families (close to 30 million people) - and it is still rapidly expanding, aiming to reach 11.2 million families (45 million people) by the end of next year.

Presentations

 Brazil's Strategy for Social Development in a Decentralized Context (734kb pdf) (in Portuguese)
Marcia Lopes, Vice Minister of Social Development and Hunger Eradication

 Challenges in Monitoring and Evaluating Social Development Policy (345kb pdf)
Romulo Paes de Sousa, Secretary of Evaluation and Information Management

 Impact Evaluation of Bolsa Família (39kb pdf)
Rosani Cunha, Secretary of Citizen Income, and National Coordinator of the Bolsa Família Program