Bolsa Familia

Agenda

• What is Bolsa Familia?• History of Bolsa Familia• How the program works• Evaluating the Bolsa Familia Program• What lies ahead

What is Bolsa Familia• Bolsa Familia literally translates to “Family Basket”• A conditional cash transfer system as an instrument of social

policy, because, 70% of Brazilians believe that poor are poor because “Society is unjust” (Source: Table in appendix slide 2)

• The Economist described Bolsa Família as an "anti-poverty scheme invented in Latin America" (which) "is winning converts worldwide

• Objectives:– Alleviate poverty and inequality through direct money transfer– Break inter-generational poverty transmission by incentives to invest

in human capital – education and child health– Connect beneficiary families to complimentary services

History of Bolsa Familia• Translation: family basket• The program first began in

Mexico • Bolsa Familia was

introduced in Brazil in October of 2003 by then President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Bolsa Familia implementation – Individual level

• When a family makes under 120 reais ($68) per head per month, mothers are paid a benefit of up to 95 reais for each child who is under 15 (up to 3 children)2

• Families can get additional payments of $19 a month for up to 2 children that are still in school3

• Families that live in extreme poverty can receive 140 reais a month with no conditions3

• The children must attend not miss more than 15% of their classes and must be vaccinated2

• If a child is caught missing more than this, the payments are suspended for the entire family2

• The stipend is typically given to the female of the house since she is likely to spend the money on her family

Bolsa Familia implementation – Administrative level

• Managed at federal level – implemented by 5564 municipalities

• Launched on October 20, 2003• Consolidated the 4 CCT programs, with

technical assistance from World Bank

Implementation – poverty levels

What’s going on / Evaluation

• Dependence

Evaluating the BFP

• 12.4m households enrolled as of July 2010• About 1/6th poverty reduction attributed to

Bolsa Família - Fundaçao Getulio Vargas• "Bolsa Familia has definitely contributed to the

improvement in infant and maternal mortality in Brazil” – Dr. Romulo Paes, Minister of Bolsa Familia program

Evaluating the BFP

• 21% reduction in Gini attributed to BFP - Soares, Ribas & Osório, 2010

• For every R$1.00 spent on BFP, GDP goes up by R$1.44, and family income by 2.25% - IPEA survey, 2011

• Little success in decreasing urban child labor• Grant goes to the matriarch, causing DOUBLE

DEPENDENCY: on Bolsa as well as the head• Unable to tackle the problems of “New Poverty”

References1.2. How to get children out of jobs and into school. The Economist. July 29, 2010.(http://www.economist.com/node/16690887)3. To Beat Back Poverty, Pay the Poor. The New York Times. January 3, 2011.4. Brazil's cash transfer scheme is improving the lives of the poorest, The Guardian, November 19, 2010http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2010/nov/19/brazil-cash-transfer-scheme

Slide 7 - Bolsa Família Programme: an analysis of Brazilian income transfer programme, Luciana Mourão and Anderson Macedo de Jesus, 2011 http://factsreports.revues.org/1314