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News > Latin America

Brazil’s Poverty Relief Program Suffers Largest Cutback

  • Former Brazilian President Luis Inacio

    Former Brazilian President Luis Inacio "Lula" da Silva speaks behind a sign that reads "Family Allowance." | Photo: EFE

Published 11 August 2017
Opinion

Family Allowance provides stipends to families living below the poverty line.

A total of 543,000 beneficiaries were cut from Brazil's Family Allowance program between the months of June and July, according to Brasil 24/7. The cut represented the largest reduction ever since the program began in 2003.

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Recent cuts in the poverty relief program, which is based on conditional cash transfers, included evaluation suspensions and cancellations.

“Truth be told, we always expect news like this because they're cutting everything,” said Rosangela da Silva, a maid with three children who received a monthly Family Allowance stipend of roughly US$39.

“Now they've cut everything."

Launched in 2003 under former Brazilian President Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva, Family Allowance provides stipends to families living below the poverty line. In turn, those families must prove that their children attend school and have been vaccinated.

The program's objective is to empower Brazil's working class, ensuring that impoverished families are able to eat, purchase hygienic materials and have access to other basic necessities.

Despite the cuts, more than half a million families are still waiting to register and enlist in the program. The reduction comes amid a flurry of austerity measures, including labor law reforms and pension cut proposals by current Brazilian President Michel Temer.

Following its groundbreaking example, programs similar to Family Allowance have been implemented throughout Latin America as well as Turkey, Cambodia and Pakistan. New York City also implemented a conditional cash transfer program called Opportunity NYC in 2007.

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