Eradicating extreme poverty

Brazil Without Extreme Poverty
In the first eight months of the program, partnerships were established with all states and positive results were achieved in assisting the extremely poor population

INCOME GUARANTEE
As a result of the Active Search (Busca Ativa), which added 499,000 households to the Unified Registry for Social Programs, an additional 325,000 families began to enjoy the benefits of the Family Grant Program. The goal in 2012 is to include 320,000 new families in social programs.

Pregnant and lactating women: 141.9 thousand breastfeeding women and 99.3 thousand pregnant women enjoyed the benefits of the Family Grant Program in February 2012. Pregnant women are registered in the system to enjoy the benefits afforded by the program when they begin their prenatal care through the Stork (Cegonha) Network.

URBAN PRODUCTIVE INCLUSION

Professional training
Thousand Women Program: 10,056 women were enrolled for courses in 37 Federal Education, Science and Technology Institutes located in 111 campuses throughout Brazil. Initially, women attend a training module designed for them to experience and consolidate their rights. Then, according to the local economic reality and to the experience of participants, they attend a training module designed to develop labor skills.

National Program for Access to Technical Education and Employment (Programa Nacional de Acesso ao Ensino Técnico e Emprego - PRONATEC): more than 20,000 new places have been agreed to be made available between late 2011 and early February 2012. In all, 83,000 places have already been agreed upon with municipalities, Federal Institutes and the S System to meet the needs of extremely poor populations.

The goal in 2012 is to train 80,000 people and make it possible for another 150,000 individuals to attend training courses.

NEW UNIFIED REGISTRY IS NOW AVAILABLE IN 98.1% OF ALL BRAZILIAN MUNICIPALITIES
The new Unified Registry, launched in August 2011, is now available in 5,463 Brazilian municipalities. The system is an important tool for monitoring the beneficiaries of social policies in Brazil, especially the extremely poor population.

The remaining 102 municipalities, which are still using the earlier version, have internet connectivity problems that will be addressed through joint actions involving the ministries of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger, Defense and Communications.

Individual Entrepreneur (Emprendedor Individual - MEI)
Since the Brazil Without Extreme Poverty plan was launched, 84,000 new individual entrepreneurs were formalized and included in the Unified Registry (59% increase), 40,000 of whom are beneficiaries of the Family Grant Program (50% increase). Apart from having their status formalized, 18,000 people received technical assistance through SEBRAE’s Business to Business Program and were visited in their ventures.

Access to microcredit
Between September and December 2011, 203,453 directed microcredit operations were carried out for 199,935 families in extreme poverty. This means that, in the first four months of the National Microcredit Program – Growing (Crescer), 34.8% of all credit operations involved extremely poor beneficiaries of the Brazil Without Extreme Poverty plan. The average amount of these loans to extremely poor families was R$ 970.47, with a mean maturity of 8.5 months.

RURAL PRODUCTIVE INCLUSION

Fostering rural productive activities
Technical assistance: 456 Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural - ATER) agents assist 37,000 families of extremely poor family farmers in all the states of the Northeast and in Minas Gerais state. About 4,500 of these families belong to traditional peoples and communities.

In 2011, these families received 375 tons of maize, bean and vegetable seeds certified by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa). The goal in 2012 is to assist 179,000 families through the ATER agents.

Stimulus to production: in February 2012, 1,138 families were financially assisted to step up their agricultural production through a non-repayable transfer which will grant R$ 2,400 paid in three installments in up to two years. The goal this year is to assist 100,000 families.

RECORD MONITORING OF HEALTH CONDITIONALITIES IN THE HISTORICAL SERIES
In the second half of 2011, 71.85% of all families assisted by the Family Grant Program had their health conditionalities monitored, the best result since the series began in 2006.

The data suggest that 99% of all beneficiary children had completed their vaccination schedule on time. Among pregnant women, 99.1% were attending pre-natal visits regularly.

The figures for the education conditionalities are also positive. About 86.6% of all beneficiary students aged between 6 and 17 were monitored in October and November 2011 and it was seen that 96% were attending school at the rate required by the program or even at a higher rate.

Water for All
Since the Brazil Without Extreme Poverty Plan was launched, 84,700 cisterns were built and an additional 68,800 are under construction. Tenders have also been held or contracts are in the process of being signed for building 163,700 other cisterns.

In 2012, there are plans to provide 372,000 households with drinking water and 61,000 with water for production by building another 433,000 cisterns.

Public Procurement
In 2011, 82.7 thousand extremely poor family farmers participated in the Food Acquisition Program (Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos – PAA), with investments of R$ 322 million in that year. The goal for 2012 is to assist 158,000 families living in extreme poverty.

Green Grant Program
Cash transfers under this program began in October 2011 and the number of assisted families reached 16.6 thousand. In 2012, the program is expected to assist 73,000 families, achieving the goal originally set for 2014 before that year.

ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE SERVICES
Basic Health Care Units (Unidades Básicas de Saúde - UBS): the first installment of funds for building 2,077 units in priority areas for fighting extreme poverty has been transferred.

Family Health Care Teams: in 2011, 427 new health care teams were set up to expand the assistance provided to families living in extreme poverty.

FEDERATIVE PACT
In December 2011, a pact was signed with the governors of mid-western states to implement the Brazil Without Extreme Poverty Plan in that region. With the pact, all the governors of the five Brazilian regions have formalized the commitment to carry out all the required actions to implement the Plan.

Currently, 10 Brazilian states have complementary cash transfer programs that use the same card of the Family Grant program: Acre, Amapá, Distrito Federal, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondônia and São Paulo. This partnership between the Federal Administration and state governments will make it possible for 3.5 million people to rise above extreme poverty by 2014.