Avaliação do Fundo Estadual de Combate à Pobreza (FECOP) no Estado do Ceará entre os anos de 2017 e 2022

Abstract

This work aims to evaluate the FECOP program from two main perspectives: the distribution of funds and the efficiency in reducing the population below the poverty line. The specific objectives are (i) to analyze whether FECOP funds are being distributed according to the poverty situation in each municipality of Ceará and (ii) to measure the efficiency of expenditures financed by FECOP in reducing the number of people below the poverty line. The analysis covers data from the FECOP Physical-Financial Performance Reports from 2017 to 2022. To evaluate the distribution of funds, the Municipal Coverage Index was used to check if the resources directed to the municipalities are proportional to the number of poor people. The efficiency of expenditures was measured using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), identifying where spending was more or less efficient. The results indicate a real decrease of 13.5% in FECOP resources between 2017 and 2022, despite the nominal growth in expenditures. The proportion of people living below the poverty line remained stable at around 38.75% between 2017 and 2021, but jumped to about 45% in 2022, due to changes in the poverty line value. The analysis of the distribution of resources showed that, on average, municipalities received insufficient amounts relative to the proportion of poor people, with a significant worsening after the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2017, 61% of the municipalities had a Municipal Coverage Index below 0.7, a percentage that increased to 92.9% in 2022. The efficiency of FECOP expenditures in reducing poverty, measured by DEA, showed that few municipalities benefited significantly.