Bolsa Familia

(click here for the article of Bolsa Familia in Portuguese). 

In this article, we will discuss the Bolsa Familia program that has been implemented in Brazil. Currently, in international relations, there is a great deal of attention to socio-economic rights. Scholars, activists, and policymakers are working to find ways to provide the necessary socio-economic rights that individuals are entitled to in international human rights. One of the most noted domestic programs that has been modeled elsewhere has been the Bolsa Familia program. Therefore, it is critical to understand this program, the different aspects of Bolsa Familia, as well as ways in which the Bolsa Familia program has been emulated elsewhere. As we shall see, what has been dubbed “Brazil’s Quite Revolution” (Wetzel, & Econômico, 2013), the Bolsa Familia is one of the most successful government social programs in the world.

What is Bolsa Familia?

Bolsa Familia is a government-based program (with support by the World Bank (in 2004, for example, the international organization gave Brazil a 572 million dollar (USD) loan for the program) (Lindert, 2013) in Brazil that offers the poorest families in Brazil (those making about 17 USD a month, as well as “moderately poor” families (those making anywhere from 17 to 34 USD a month) (Lindert, 2013) cash stipends in exchange for the family members following through on social programs. For example, the government might provide families money, but then, the families have to send their children to primary school, and they may also have to ensure that their children go to the doctor’s office or hospital to get vaccines (Watts, 2013). The idea of “conditional cash transfers” is idea that they “…provide money directly to poor families via a “social contract” with the beneficiaries – for example, sending children to school regularly or bringing them to health centers. For extremely poor families, cash provides emergency assistance, while the conditionality’s promote longer-term investments in human capital: Lindert, 2005).

Thus, the Brazilian government does condition the Bolsa Familia cash transfers on familial behavior related to ensuring kids are getting going to get health benefits, and that they are going to school. In fact, “Parents who fail to have their children vaccinated or send them to school are penalised with reduced payments. In Belágua, this is a real threat, according to local teacher Rosimat dos Santos Souza” (Watts, 2013). According to the state, “the government says children are about 10% more likely to go to school if their parents receive bolsa familia, while mothers are 25% more likely to sign up for health checks” (Watts, 2013). Similar penalties are implemented if kids are not in school. For example, “The programme allows the children to miss about 15% of classes. But if a child gets caught missing more than that, payment is suspended for the whole family” (The Economist, 2010).

These cash transfers from the Brazilian government for the Bolsa Familia program is also monthly; these are usually not one time payments, but continued income transfers. The amount of money that the government gives to families has varied (in 2005, for example, it was between 17 and 33 dollars, with a 24 dollar average) (Lindert, 2013), and is currently about 35 USD a month, through direct cash transfers to the families (World Bank, 2015). And while the money through the Bolsa Familia program is often not enough to cover every bill and staple item citizens need (Watts, 2013). nonetheless, the program is said to help cover a variety of basic necessities, and helps millions of Brazilians. When looking at the extent of the Bolsa Familia in Brazil, it is evident that this government-supported social program is highly popular, and has influence throughout the country; “The programme has grown rapidly. In the past 10 years, the number of recipient families has risen from 3.6 million to 13.8 million, which means bolsa familia now covers about a quarter of Brazil’s population of 199 million” (Watts, 2013). In some parts of the Brazil, the percentage of families reliant on Bolsa Familia has been noted to be as high as 80 percent (Watts, 2013). According to the World Bank (2015), 11 million families in total, or 46 million individuals in Brazil are benefiting from the Bolsa Familia program

It is also important to note that Bolsa Familia is not the only part of the socialist-based policies in Brazil, but rather are just one aspect of the government’s philosophy. Other elements of related social programs within the “Brazil Without Poverty” initiative are attention to ensuring a minimum wage for those working in Brazil, ensuring some sort of formalization of employment for Brazilians, as well as attention to helping families who are in rural areas of the country (Watts, 2013). Moreover, the Brazilian government has also been working to help individual have access to housing, and the state has also developed and supported pensions for people (Watts, 2013).

History of the Bolsa Familia Program

In order to understand the introduction and implementation of Bolsa Familia in Brazil, we must spend some time talking about the social conditions that have existed, which resulted in this program. For decades, Brazil has faced gross economic imbalances in the country. In fact, “Inequality and poverty have walked hand in hand in Brazil for decades and even centuries, the result of non-inclusive growth models and regressive social policies. In the second half of the 20th century, Brazil has been one of the most unequal countries in the world, with economists coining expressions such as “Belindia – a society consisting of a tiny Belgium of prosperity in a sea of Indian poverty”.  For years, the poorest 60 % of the population had only 4 % of the wealth, while the richest 20 % held 58 % of the pie” (Wetzel, & Econômico, 2013).

Because of these economic problems, the Bolsa Familia program in Brazil was first implemented in 2003 under then leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who wanted to make the Bolsa Familia a key element of Brazil’s social program agenda (Watts, 2013). As we shall see, today, this program is viewed as a success. However, the high belief in the Bolsa Familia was not always the case. In fact, when Lula announced the program, there were many who did not think the program would work. Part of the reason for this attitude was because of the already high government expenditures on social services (at that time, it was 22 percent of the state’s GDP), and there was clearly not doing enough to address these socio-economic problems.

Interestingly, this Bolsa Familia program brought together many previous subsidy programs in Brazil. As Lindert (2005) writes:

Four pre-reform safety net programs were included in the Lula administration’s safety net consolidation: Bolsa Escola (Ministry of Education), Bolsa Alimentação (Ministry of Health), Cartão Alimentação ( Fome Zero), and Auxílio Gas (Ministry of Mines/Energy). Although each of these programs had its own emphasis – promoting schooling, health care, food consumption, compensation for fewer government subsidies, and so forth – the separate programs were redundant and difficult to administer. They all provided cash transfers to roughly the same target population. Each had its own separate administrative structure, data collection, fiduciary procedures, and public reporting. The resulting safety net was filled with both gaps and redundancies in coverage, and the programmatic fragmentation sacrificed opportunities for synergies at the family level among schooling, health, nutrition, and other services” (67-68).

Successes of Brazil’s Bolsa Familia Program

The Bolsa Familia program is one of the most successful government social programs on issues of poverty reduction, education, employment, and increasing the access to housing for Brazilians. When looking at the quantitative impact of the Bolsa Familia program in Brazil, “The headline gain is a fall in extreme poverty for 36 million people. The proportion of Brazilians living in this state (defined as less than 70 reais a month) declined from 8.8% to 3.6% between 2002 and 2012. Strong economic growth during this period and the introduction of the minimum wage were the major reasons, but the government credits bolsa familia for more than a third of the improvement” (Watts, 2013). Thus, while the minimum wage component of the Brazil Without Poverty program was also successful, at least part of the economic improvement of the poor in Brazil is because of these government cash transfers through Bolsa Familia.

Another main factor for why the Bolsa Familia program is so highly regarded is because of who it is able to reach. As the World Bank (2015) explains, “The virtue of the Bolsa Família is that it reaches a signification portion of Brazilian society that has never benefited from social programs. It is among the world’s best targeted programs, because it reaches those who really need it. Ninety-four percent of the funds reach the poorest 40 percent of the population. Studies prove that most of the money is used to buy food, school supplies, and clothes for the children.”

For example, looking at the issue of health, it has been said that for Brazil, “Between 2001 and 2011, the infant mortality rate fell 40 percent overall. Its most drastic decline has been in the northeast, traditionally Brazil’s poorest area, where it showed a 50 percent drop. The percentage of children who are underweight or unhealthily small has also fallen among families that receive a Bolsa stipend, as has the number of childhood deaths associated with malnutrition” (Barnes, 2013).

Moreover, the Bolsa Familia has also helped reduce large gender inequity gaps in Brazil; “women…acccount for over 90% of the beneficiaries” (Wetzel, & Econômico, 2013).

One can see the impact of Brazil’s Bolsa Familia program when examining education in Brazil. In many of the poor parts of Brazil–where education graduation rates have been historically lower than many other parts of the country, the government has been seeing higher graduation rates compared to other more traditionally better-performing parts of the country. Also with regards to education, “[Bolsa Familia] has increased school attendance and grade progression.  For instance, the chances of a 15 year old girl being in school increased by 21%. Children and families are better prepared to study and seize opportunities with more prenatal care visits, immunization coverage and reduced child mortality” (World Bank, 2013). (However, we must note that this seems to have more of an effect in rural areas, compared to urban areas, where it might be more economically lucrative for kids to work, selling items in the city, than the amount of money they would receive from Bolsa Familia) (Economist, 2010).

What is also great about Bolsa Familia is that when individuals register for the program, and are receiving the stipends, their information is now available for the government to contact them and offer additional help; if they were not registered for Bolsa Familia, it may have been more difficult for the Brazilian government to know who was in need, and to adequately respond to their financial and economic hardships. As Tereza Campello, the Social Development and Hunger Allievation Minister of Brazil says, “”Bolsa familia is a platform not just to alleviate poverty, but to get more kids into school and improve public health.” Campello goes on to say that  “The income is an incentive that we can use to solve other social programmes. Once people are in our database, we can offer them other benefits and target programmes at them. In this way, bolsa familia is an instrument for wider programmes. It’s a platform” (Watts, 2013).

Criticisms of Bolsa Familia

While Bolsa Familia is complimented and praised as being one of the most effective social programs in the world, and that the program has done remarkable things for the most economically poor in Brazil, the program has not been without criticisms. For example, “Brazilians fed up not only with what they see as populist handouts, but in general with high taxes and the way the government applies that revenue” (Barnes, 2013). For example, 

Public expenditures on the Bolsa program have risen from about $1.94 billion in 2003 to an estimated $10.98 billion in 2013. Ms. Campello estimates that some 600,000 additional families qualify for the program and still need to be included in order to cover Brazil’s most impoverished.

A high tax burden and low-quality public services, including education, mean that middle- and upper-class families often feel obligated to pay for private school and health care out of pocket. In Brazil, for example, the average person works 150 days a year to pay taxes, compared with 102 days in the US. Among the 30 countries with the highest tax burdens, Brazil ranks last in terms of the quality of services citizens receive in exchange for high taxes, according to the Brazilian Institute of Tax Planning (Barnes, 2013).

In addition, “There are also accusations of fraud; the government admits the requirements for new applicants aren’t very stringent” (Barnes, 2013). There have been cases of elected officials fraudulently receiving Bolsa Familia cash transfers (Barnes, 2013).

In addition, many are questioning the actual success of the program, namely, whether the anti-poverty gains that the government credits Bolsa Familia for are actually due to that program, or if they are because of a host of other factors. For example, “Lena Lavinas, professor of welfare economics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, says the government overstates the importance of bolsa familia and has exaggerated its achievements by failing to account adequately for inflation in its statistics. If rising prices are properly factored into the calculation, she says, the extreme poverty rate ought to be 90 reais a month, which would mean bolsa familia has lifted only 7 million people above this line” (Watts, 2013).

One of the other criticisms that has been levied at the Bolsa Familia policy in Brazil has to do with the belief that such social programs promote a reliance on handouts instead of working on providing skills for people, which can allow them to become much more self-sufficient, and have better abilities to gain access to food, education, etc… without leaning or relying on Bolsa Familia or government financial aid. For example, “”Critics quote Confucius and say it is better to teach people how to fish than to give them fish, but bolsa familia recipients aren’t poor because they are lazy or don’t know how to work, they are poor because they have no opportunities, no education and poor health. How can they compete with those disadvantages? By giving people the money to survive, we are empowering them, including them and giving them the rights of a citizen in a consumer society” (Watts, 2013).

However, some have responded by pointing to anecdotal information from Brazilians in poverty to say that the Bolsa Familia program is helping many who otherwise would be even more in need. For example, for many who rely on the government cash transfers, without them, they say that because few jobs exist, they would still be without work, and would have even less money for basic necessities. Furthermore, it seems that studies have found that dependency does not seem to arise for those on Bolsa Familia (Economist, 2010).

However, one other criticism of the program pertains to imbalances between rural and urban families on Bolsa Familia. As the Economist (2010) pointed out in 2010, “Worries about the imbalance between rural and urban benefits may be harder to brush away. Bolsa Família does seem to have a rural bias. Rural poverty is great in Brazil but even so, the programme’s incidence in rural areas is high: 41% of rural households were enrolled in 2006, against 17% of urban ones. In the two largest cities, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, fewer than 10% of households are in the programme. Yet these cities contain some of the worst poverty in the country.” But it is also necessary to note that there exists a belief that the program has the most positive effect in rural areas (Economist, 2010).

Conclusion

The Bolsa Familia problem is a highly effective socio-economic program run by the Brazilian government to help their economically poor citizens in the country. And as we have seen through a discussion of Bolsa Familia, the program is working; this Bolsa Familia program is believed to be breaking cycles of poverty in Brazil, helping millions with their basic food, health, housing, and education rights. Wetzel, & Econômico (2013) explain that

Poverty invariably casts a long shadow on the next generation, but these results leave no doubt that BF has improved the prospects for generations of children. At the same time, fears about unintended consequences such as possible reduced work incentives have not materialized. Indeed, increased labor income has been another critical player in the reduction of poverty and inequality in Brazil during this period.

Because of the numerous successes of the Bolsa Familia program in Brazil, other government and non-governental actors are taking a page from Brazil’s policy book so to speak and are adopting similar programs in their own states or communities. For example, “Success has sparked adaptations in almost 20 countries—including Chile, Mexico, and other countries around the world, such as Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, and Morocco. More recently, New York City announced its “Opportunity NYC” conditional transfer of income program, modeled on Bolsa Família and its Mexican equivalent. This is a example of a developed country adopting and learning from the experiences in the so-called developing world” (World Bank, 2015). In addition, Brazil has actually hosted individuals who have wanted to learn more about Bolsa Familia (Wetzel, & Econômico, 2013).

 

References

Barnes, T. (2013). Brazil’s Bolsa Família: welfare model or menace?  Christian Science Monitor. November 17, 2013. Available Online: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2013/1117/Brazil-s-Bolsa-Familia-welfare-model-or-menace 

Economist (2010). Brazil’s Bolsa Familia: How to get children out of jobs and into school. July 29, 2010. Available Online: http://www.economist.com/node/16690887

Lindert, K. (2005). Brazil: Bolsa Familia Program – Scaling-up Cash Transfers for the Poor. Brazil: Bolsa Familia Program – Scaling-up Cash Transfers for the Poor. MfDR Principles in Action: Sourcebook on Emerging Good Practices. Available Online: http://www.mfdr.org/sourcebook/6-1Brazil-BolsaFamilia.pdf

Watts, J. (2013). Brazil’s bolsa familia scheme marks a decade of pioneering poverty relief. The Guardian. 17 December 2013. Available Online: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/dec/17/brazil-bolsa-familia-decade-anniversary-poverty-relief

Wetzel, D. & Econômico, V. (2013). Bolsa Família: Brazil’s Quiet Revolution. November 3rd, 2013. Available Online: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/opinion/2013/11/04/bolsa-familia-Brazil-quiet-revolution

World Bank (2015). Bolsa Família: Changing the Lives of Millions in Brazil. World Bank News & Broadcast. Available Online: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21447054~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html