Cairo – The experience of the Family Purse, the Brazilian government’s income transfer program, attracted the interest of several participants in the social protection forum organised by the World Bank in Cairo. Almost all of the 200 delegates at the meeting attended the presentation given yesterday (16th) by the representative of the Ministry of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation, Bruno Câmara Pinto.
The audience asked many questions. Many attendants wanted to learn more about the Brazilian project in order to be able to adapt it to their own countries. Such was the case of Mozambique, for instance. “We have already exchanged some experiences with the Brazilian government, because we have already begun implementing a food subsidy program, which is an income transfer program somewhat similar to the Family Purse,” said Elza Roia Alfai, advisor to the Ministry of Social Policies of the African country.
According to her, what is most interesting in the Brazilian experience is detailed information on the management of social programs. “We have noticed that Brazil has good experience in the field,” she said. Among the detailed information she mentioned the unified register, the methodology for identifying those enrolled, and the program’s monitoring and evaluation methods.
“We are not expecting to promote anything the size of the Family Purse, because it is broader and much farther-reaching in terms of benefits. Still, the Brazilian experience is really helping us improve the mechanisms for implementing our own program,” said the advisor.
According the director of the Mozambican National Institute of Social Action (Inas), Lúcia Bernadete Mairosse, her country is still in the process of identifying elements of the Brazilian experience that may be useful for cooperation. “We are interested in the method of vulnerability analysis that was developed under the Brazilian program, as well as in other issues more connected with our own reality,” she asserted. “We are still in a phase of exchanging information,” she added.
Bruno Câmara Pinto, of the Ministry of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation, acknowledged that certain challenges present themselves when it comes to implementing the Brazilian program in other countries. “Our program takes place at an institutional level that cannot yet be attained by many countries,” he said. According to him, in order for the Family Purse to be able to function properly, the three levels of government – federal, state and municipal – must be articulated, something that is not yet feasible in many nations. “Furthermore, in Brazil, we have a banking system that is present in every municipality, and wherever there is no bank branch, there is a postal office branch, which is often not the case in African countries, for instance,” he explained.
Yemen
Arab countries such as Yemen also presented social programs adapted to their realities and culture, but displayed interest in aspects of the Brazilian experience nonetheless. “We are promoting several public social programs aiming to fight unemployment, as well as to alleviate chronic poverty situations that are very common in our country,” said Abdullah Al Dailami, of the Yemeni Social Fund for Development.
According to him, the government is trying to implement an income transfer program to meet the country’s specific conditions. “We are developing methods to identify the most vulnerable communities, especially those victimised by drought, epidemics, fires, or any other type of catastrophe,” said Dailami. “Once that work is done and the priorities in terms of vulnerability have been identified, then we work together with a consultant and a coordinator so as to start the works, which consist of transferring certain amounts, every two weeks, to the groups identified,” he added.
According to Dailami, his country is also trying to learn from the Brazilian experience, especially with regard to income transfer. “We in Yemen have another government institution, a fund in charge of social welfare,” he said. He explained that the program, which is being devised, involves income transfer and the conditions for people to benefit from the program. “Such an initiative demands lots of preparation from the institutions, as well as the establishment of mechanisms for asserting which of the benefited persons are actually sending their children out to school,” he said, explaining that the country is working to improve the level of cooperation between institutions, so that such an assertion is possible.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
