O papel do programa bolsa família (lei n° 10.836/2004) no combate à pobreza no Brasil

Abstract

One of the Brazil's constitutional is to provide social assistance to those who need it. For many years the initiatives in the field of politics and law have proved ineffective or, at least, insufficient. In 2002 our country had more than 45 million people living below the poverty line. To try to change that reality, at the end of 2003, with the edition of a Provisional Measure, the federal government created the Programa Bolsa Família. It is one of the largest direct cash transfer programs already deployed in the world. Benefits millions of Brazilian families in poverty and extreme poverty. The program operates in three areas: direct transfer of income to immediate relief of poverty, imposition of conditions to promote access to basic social rights and implementation of complementary actions to provide the beneficiary to overcome the vulnerable condition. Conceptualize, define, characterize and measure poverty is an arduous task and to this day it has not reached consensus on the best way to do it. In a one-dimensional, utilitarian and monetary vision poverty can be seen as the lack of income for the individual to consume a set of goods and services considered to be necessary at all. The needs may vary from livelihood to the personal comfort, according to the chosen criterion. On the other hand, in a multidimensional vision, focused on the individual and not on consumption, poverty is related to the deprivation of opportunities and freedoms. Poor is everyone who may not choose to exercise their capabilities. The individual must have access to basic items such as food, health and education, but should also exercise more diffuse positive liberties like having security, culture and live in a democracy. Some of main features of Bolsa Familia are the cash transfer of income, the imposition of conditions, the lax targeting policy, management and execution decentralization and intersectoriality, which increases the ability to integrate it with complementary actions. These attributes allow the program to not only ensure some income, but also provide better conditions for human development to its beneficiaries. The variability of poverty concepts and measures, does not allow us to evaluate accurately the program efficiency. However the social rights access indicators, some linear and multidimensional poverty measures and some evidences of social development shows that Bolsa Familia has important role in combating poverty in Brazil.