Brazil focuses on nurseries, schools and jobs to fight poverty

Brazil focuses on nurseries, schools and jobs to fight poverty

Tereza Campello, Brazil’s social development minister, says higher wages and bolsa familia have reduced inequality; now education will do even more

Sam Jones
Monday 24 November 2014 07.34 EST

Expanding nursery provision, improving educational standards and providing more vocational training to adults will be at the heart of Brazil’s efforts to fight poverty and inequality over the next few years, according to the country’s social development minister.

While she trumpeted the successes of the bolsa familia poverty-relief programme – the cash handout given to almost a quarter of Brazilian families on condition that their children go to school and get vaccinated – Tereza Campello insisted that the country still had a long way to go in creating a fairer and more prosperous society.

Introduced in 2003 by the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the bolsa familia is estimated to have kept 36m families out of extreme poverty and to have been responsible for a dramatic drop in infant mortality, with 0-5 deaths from diarrhoea falling by 46% and deaths from malnutrition down by 58%.

But, said Campello, the programme was not solely responsible for the country’s socio-economic progress: between 2002 and 2013, the poorest 20% of Brazilians saw their incomes rise by 6.2%, while those in the top 20% saw a rise of only 2.6%.

“Everybody thinks it’s because of bolsa familia, but that’s not the case,” said Campello. “Bolsa familia is a small contributor to that, but we’ve also had a 72% growth in the minimum wage – above the rate of inflation – and an increase in employment of 20.8m formal jobs.”

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/nov/24/brazil-nurseries-schools-jobs-training-poverty