Fighting Hunger is Much More than Promoting Cash-Transfers

Brazil has been considered a success case in reducing poverty, food insecurity and hunger. The World Bank’s report Declining Inequality in Latin America in the 2000s: the cases of Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico released last October presents interesting findings on Brazil’s path in fighting poverty.

The report states that “depending on the poverty line, between 50 and 60 percent of the decline in extreme poverty can be attributed to the reduction in inequality.” From 2002 to 2009, the level of income among the bottom 10% of the Brazilian population increased by 7% per year, while the national average was 2.5% and the richest 10% of the population had an income improvement of 1.1% per year.

The most important conclusion regarding the inequality decline is that about 52% of it is the result of the enhancement on families’ labor income, while 32% of it come from donations or non-labor income. Although some conservative critics of the Bolsa Família Program could take the opportunity to highlight the ineffectiveness of governmental conditional cash-transfer policies, I consider these results very positive since they draw attention to the fact that Brazilian performance is not only based on one program, but it is a consequence of a much more comprehensive and sustainable approach called Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) Strategy.

Launched in 2003, the Fome Zero aims to secure universal access to food. It recognizes that food security and nutrition are the most basic requirements for social inclusion and citizenship. It tackles hunger and food insecurity through cross-governmental articulated policies resulting in more than 50 programs divided in 4 axes:

1) Access to Food – it includes the Bolsa Família, which is world’s largest conditional cash-transfer program providing income for more than 12.7 million families and benefiting more than 50 million people. It also comprises school meal programs, low-priced restaurants, community gardens, vitamin distribution and nutrition education.

2) Income Generation – it provides social and professional education, microcredit, and community organization.

3) Smalholder’s Agriculture – it offers low-interest microfinance, agricultural insurance and crop guarantees for family-based agriculture.

4) Social Articulation, Mobilization and Control – it involves social capacity building and multi-stakeholder partnerships.

I agree with Oxfam’s report Fighting Hunger in Brazil which explains that the main reasons behind Fome Zero’s strategy success are: “high-level political commitment, economic growth and labor reforms, managing powerful oppositional interests, external support and active civil society” So what is it missing for the country to be able to meet its target to eradicate extreme poverty by the beginning of 2014? What is necessary to improve the livelihood of 16.2 million people (8.5% of country’s population) who survive with less than USD 1.30 per day?

According to the Brazilian government, the answer is the Brasil Sem Miséria (Brazil Without Misery) Plan. In the first phase, the government intends to amplify the scope of Bolsa Família program, reaching 800 thousand more families who qualify to the benefit but due to lack of information, geographical isolation, or bureaucracy do not receive it. In the second phase, it plans to improve access to public services, especially education, health, running water, electricity and sewage. The third phase focuses on capacity building, broadening Fome Zero’s Income Generation program.

It is very important to notice that this plan strengthen the basis of sustainable development by introducing the environmental aspect. Through Bolsa Verde (Green) families who occupy priority areas for environmental conservation and live in extreme poverty receive a complementary conditional cash-transfer for employing sustainable use of natural resources.

Taking into account the Brazilian government’s recent track-record, I believe there shouldn’t be any skeptics.

Comments Off on Fighting Hunger is Much More than Promoting Cash-Transfers / 12 Feb 2013 por Andrea Mara Hanai
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