Interesting story: Brazilian cash "handout" program working wonders for the poor

[kevinbgoode1]

From the Globe and Mail:

Ten years ago, Brazil set out to do something that few countries have ever overtly attempted: become more equal. The undertaking was unusual, but even more remarkable was the outcome: measurable success. Brazil has in the past decade moved people out of poverty on an unprecedented scale – the standard of living improved so much for 22 million that they are no longer considered “poor.” Millions more living on the knife-edge of starvation in drought-ridden expanses of the interior are still poor but vastly better off. Between 2003 and 2009, incomes of the poorest Brazilians grew seven times those of rich citizens.

Teresa Campello, who heads the Ministry of Social Development and the Fight Against Hunger – and who projects an electric enthusiasm for her job difficult to imagine in a Canadian cabinet minister – rattles off the statistics: Infant mortality has fallen by 40 per cent in 10 years – one of the most dramatic declines ever seen anywhere – and the fall is sharpest in poorest areas; school enrolment sits at nearly 100 per cent, and kids who get the grant now graduate at nearly twice the rate of kids who don’t; research shows that women given the grant have greater decision-making power and more equitable relations with their partners, if they have one.

And at a time when Brazil’s economy was booming – traditionally a guarantee that the gulf between rich and poor would get even wider – inequality, for the first time ever, declined. Brazil went from being the world’s third most unequal country to the 15th between 2001 and 2012.

[link:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/what-would-robin-hood-do-how-cash-handouts-are-remaking-lives-in-brazil/article16113695/?click=tglobe|

[99Forever]

1. Wow, the opposite of austerity actually works?

Whodda thunk it?

(just kidding) Welcome to DU.

Excellent read, thanks for posting it.

[pinboy3niner]

2. Long ago, in a poli sci course...

...one book we used as a course text was a book about "Implementation."

It examined a jobs program in Oakland and analyzed its failure--mainly because its creators never solicited from the intended beneficiaries information about their needs.

There were fatal flaws--like providing jobs at locations not served by public transportation.

iirc, the conclusion was that the program would have been more successful if it was scrapped and simply handed a $50,000 check to each client (which was the cost of the program per client).

[loudsue]

4. Geez. That was an expensive lesson.

And a no brainer to learn more about the target group before implementing a program. Sounds like a republican was contracted to do that study. It never occurs to them to walk a mile in someone else's shoes without overlaying their own stereotypes first, which of course skews the ability to learn from anything definitive.

[pinboy3niner]

5. That lesson was to serve me well

Later, when I was working for a federal agency, I had to do a study using field investigators around the country.

Normally a study manager would task investigators to collect certain data, and that was it. But I persuaded the higher-ups to allow me to bring the field investigators into our D.C. HQ for a couple of days to participate in the design of the study.

The participation of the investigators proved invaluable. And involving them invested them in the study and made it THEIR project, and they went above and beyond the call in their efforts. The project was so successful that I got an award and a cash bonus.

[loudsue]

6. That's great, pinboy!

And good thinking!

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. rec!

[CrispyQ]

7. We're all in this together & when we build societies based on that premise, we all do better.

America has embraced hyper-individualism - we value the individual over the community. IMO, it's part of why our culture is a cesspool. We've gone along with the attitude that just because an individual has the right to do/say something, they should be allowed to do/say it. A decent culture sets standards & says, OK, maybe you have the right to do that, but it's not going to be something we encourage, & in fact, some types of behavior should be actively discouraged. The Duck Dynasty thing comes to mind. Sure, Robertson (?) has the right to express his bigotry, but as a culture, we also have a right to say we don't want to hear it & to discourage talk/behavior that damages the community.

As an aside, it seems that western masculinity is also based on hyper-individualism. The media portrays today's ultimate man as a guy who does everything on his own, never asks for help, & doesn't need anyone. We could undo so much damage if we would simply embrace community, if we would learn that there has to be a balance between individuals & community.

[freshwest]

8. Insightful post. Kicking here. n/t

[PatSeg]

9. Hi there Crisp!!!

I can think of so much damage that hyper-individualism has done to people, myself included. Not asking for help when times are rough can set people back so far, that sometimes they never recover.

[CrispyQ]

16. I think it's worse for men, too.

I don't know why we created a culture that says that asking for help is a weakness. More & more I think that showing kindness is considered a weakness, too.

How are things? I haven't visited the JBSG for such a long time. Maybe I'll bop over there.

[PatSeg]

17. That whole rugged individualism thing

has really done a number on a lot of good people. And yes, kindness is often seen as weakness. I remember when phrases like "Nice guys finish last" and "Gotta look out for number one" were first coined. I noticed that the definition of "success" in our society is always related to money. We've been heading in this direction for a long time.

Haven't been to JBSG in a long time. Most of us connect at the Bidenites group at Facebook. That is where we do most of our political venting.

Doing pretty good. How about you, how is life treating you?

[El_Johns]

13. +1

[Igel]

14. Didn't used to be that way.

Those who didn't want to conform helped push it to that.

It's always been more individualistic than a lot of other cultures that value clan or class above everything else. America also had a lot of civil society, though, that imposed customs and obligations on people and enforce societal norms with peer pressure and moralistic legislation, helping to keep the individualistic rebel and iconoclast in check.

The two opposing forces got out of sync. They won't get back in sync in my lifetime. Many of those who knocked it out of sync (a sort of reactionary movement) and those who reacted to the reaction won't let it. It would mean losing, and the self-righteous often prefer a scorched earth policy.

[valerief]

10. But giving money to poor people takes it away from rich people, and that's the worst thing

in the world you can do.

[RainDog]

11. k&r n/t

[ProSense]

12. Brazilian social security programme receives prestigious ISSA award

Brazilian social security programme receives prestigious ISSA award

ISSA, 15.10.2013 | Press release

The International Social Security Association has announced that the Government of Brazil has won its first “Award for Outstanding Achievement in Social Security” for the pioneering Bolsa Família poverty-reduction programme.

Launched in 2003 by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Bolsa Família is a conditional cash transfer programme that today reaches an estimated 50 million poor Brazilians, by supplementing their income. The scheme provides money to a family on the condition that the children attend school regularly and have been vaccinated. Cash transfers are made directly to female heads of household via a payment card, empowering them to make decisions about family education and health, which benefits child welfare.

Bolsa Família is the largest scheme of its kind in the world and is estimated to cost only around 0.5 per cent of Brazilian GDP. The programme aims to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty which can result in social dependency, and by linking cash transfers to school attendance, has improved results. The scheme has helped increase equality in Brazil, and since 2003 has lifted an estimated 36 million Brazilians out of extreme poverty, including 22 million people in the past two years, since the Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff started her tenure.

In a message to the ISSA, President Rousseff stated that “Brazil accepts with great honour the ISSA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Social Security. This is an important recognition of the effort made by the Brazilian Government to improve social protection in the country. Bolsa Família guarantees that 36 million Brazilians can live above the extreme poverty line, keeps 16 million children and adolescents in school, and has been a decisive tool to reduce child mortality. Brazil has millions of reasons to be proud of Bolsa Família, a programme that reduces inequalities and benefits all Brazilians.”

Announcing the Award, the ISSA President Errol Frank Stoové said, “The Award recognizes the unique success of Bolsa Família, which has helped alleviate poverty amongst the poorest families in Brazil and has boosted education and health for their children. It has demonstrated that conditional cash transfer programmes can be highly effective forms of social security. It is our hope the ISSA Award will encourage more governments to take note of the Brazilian experience and consider adopting similar programmes to the benefit of their citizens.”

The ISSA Award will be presented to a high-level representative of the Government of Brazil at the World Social Security Forum, taking place in Doha, Qatar, from 10-15 November 2013. The Forum will be attended by the ISSA leadership, representatives of the Qatari authorities and more than 1,000 social security policy-makers and senior administrators from 150 countries.

About the Award

The Geneva-based International Social Security Association is the principal international organization working to promote and develop social security worldwide. The ISSA provides knowledge, professional standards and expert networks to strengthen the administrative capacity of member institutions. Founded in 1927, the ISSA today has more than 330 members in 157 countries.

The ISSA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Social Security will be attributed every three years by the ISSA Officers to an institution or programme that has made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and development of social security, at the national or international level.

http://www.issa.int/News-Events/News2/Brazilian-social-security-programme-receives-prestigious-ISSA-award

Here's a 2011 article on the program.

To Beat Back Poverty, Pay the Poor

By TINA ROSENBERG

The city of Rio de Janeiro is infamous for the fact that one can look out from a precarious shack on a hill in a miserable favela and see practically into the window of a luxury high-rise condominium. Parts of Brazil look like southern California. Parts of it look like Haiti. Many countries display great wealth side by side with great poverty. But until recently, Brazil was the most unequal country in the world.

Today, however, Brazil’s level of economic inequality is dropping at a faster rate than that of almost any other country. Between 2003 and 2009, the income of poor Brazilians has grown seven times as much as the income of rich Brazilians. Poverty has fallen during that time from 22 percent of the population to 7 percent.

Contrast this with the United States, where from 1980 to 2005, more than four-fifths of the increase in Americans’ income went to the top 1 percent of earners. (see this great series in Slate by Timothy Noah on American inequality) Productivity among low and middle-income American workers increased, but their incomes did not. If current trends continue, the United States may soon be more unequal than Brazil.

Several factors contribute to Brazil’s astounding feat. But a major part of Brazil’s achievement is due to a single social program that is now transforming how countries all over the world help their poor.

<...>

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/to-beat-back-poverty-pay-the-poor/?scp=2&sq=poverty&st=cse

Originally posted here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023877767

[countryjake]

15. A big KICK!

[SoCalDem]

18. People are poor because they have no money

Give them money, and they will be able to participate in the economy..and will better themselves.

[mstinamotorcity2]

19. that is

great. kick

[woo me with science]

20. K&R