IPC’s Research Coordinator, Fábio Veras, joined the seminar and panel discussion as part of the “Les Rencontres du Devéloppement”, on 13th March, in Paris. He shared some of the Brazilian experience with Bolsa Família and other programmes. The panel was jointly organized by Research and Development Division of France’s Agency for Development (AFD) and by the Delegation for European and International Affairs (DAEI) of the French Minister of Social Affairs and Employment.

1. 0
Les programmes de transferts monétaires
conditionnels quelles leçons à tirer?
Bolsa Familia et autres expériences
Fabio Veras Soares – IPC-IG

2. Bolsa Familia:
Origins of Bolsa Familia
• Bolsa Familia is the result of a reform (2003) – the
merge of 4 Federal cash transfer programmes:
Bolsa Escola (Ministry of Education) ‐ 2001
Bolsa Alimentação (Ministry of Health) – 2001
Auxilio Gas (Ministry of Mines and Energy) ‐ 2001
Cartão Alimentação (Ministry of Food Security) ‐ 2003
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3. Bolsa Familia
Bolsa familia consolidates a Conditional Cash
Transfer model that started at municipal and state
level in Brazil.
Two pioneers:
 Campinas‐SP: 0‐15 years and case management
(meetings with social workers)
 Federal District: 7‐14 years (school based)
The first experience with CCT at the national level
was the PETI (Programme for the Erradication of
Child labour) – 1996 (low coverage)
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4. Bolsa Familia
In 1997 it was approved the legislation that allowed the Federal
government to co‐finance (up to 50% of the cots) of municipal
level “basic income guarantee linked to education” – for targeted
municipalities.
In 2001 the Ministry of education starts the implementation of
the Bolsa Escola for children between (6‐15 years): geographical
targeting (HDI) and self‐reported income (1/2 of the Minimum
wage); no reassessment of eligibility; 85% minimum school
attendance; quotas and local authorities involved in the selection
of beneficiaries. Benefit: R$ 15.00 up to a maximum of 3 children.
A few months later the Ministry of Health announces the Bolsa
Alimentação for children under 7 years of age: similar to Bolsa
Familia but health‐related conditionalities.
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5. Bolsa Familia
Besides these two programmes, in 2002 the Federal government
also introduced the auxilio gas (cooking gas grant) managed by
the Ministry of Mines and Energy (R$ 7.50 paid bimonthly)
In the first year of the Lula’s first term (2003) – it was created the
Special Ministry for Food Security, which started a new cash
transfer – Cartão alimentação as part of the Hunger Zero Strategy
– conditionality: to use the cash to purchase food.
After 10 months of government, all these 4 cash transfer
programmes are merged under Bolsa Familia.
To support the implementation of these programmes it was created
the Cadastro Único in September 2001. The cadastro único became
the backbone of the Bolsa Familia MIS jointly with the other systems
and the payroll information.
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6. The initial design of Bolsa Familia
Based on the objectives and beneficiaries of the former 4
programmes, the Bolsa Familia programme started being
implemented under the newly created Ministry of Social
Development (MDS) and had the following benefit structure in
2002:
a) Basic benefit for household living in extreme poverty (cartão
alimentação and auxilio gas)
b) Variable benefit: child‐related benefits: 0‐15 years for families
living in poverty (extreme poverty + moderate poverty):
Health conditionalities
Education conditionalities
Cap of three children per household.
In 2008, a new benefit (BVJ) for teenagers between 16‐17 years of
age is created at a higher value than the variable benefit. Up to a
maximum of 2 per household. 5

7. Bolsa Familia and Brasil sem Miseria
The eligibility lines: extreme poverty and poverty as well as the
value of the benefit structure changed over time in a idiosyncratic
manner.
The major change on the structure of benefit of Bolsa Familia
came under the Brasil sem Miseria Plan and entailed the
introduction of the Brasil Carinhoso component – including the
expansion of the cap to 5 children and not 3 ‐ and later the
Benefit to overcome extreme poverty.
The next graph shows what Brasil Carinhoso component and later
the Benefit to overcome extreme poverty intended to do –
eradicate extreme poverty by complementing the extreme
poverty gap.
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8. Bolsa Familia and Brasil sem Miseria
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9. Bolsa Familia and Brasil sem Miseria
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10. Why has Bolsa Familia expanded from 11 to 14 million families while poverty
rates were falling down? – chronic and transient poverty (2004 and 2006)
Source: Ipea (2013)
Poverty PPP$ 1.25 (MDG) – blue Poverty PP$2.00 ‐ red
Extreme Poverty – Bolsa Familia lowest eligibility line (basic benefit) ‐ green
Poverty – Bolsa Familia highest eligibility line (variable benefit) ‐ black 9

11. Bolsa Familia and poverty
Why has Bolsa Familia expanded from 11 to 14 million families
while poverty rates were falling down? – chronic and transient
poverty (2004 and 2006)
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15.6% 16.0% 15.9%
19.7%
22.8%
24.7%
15.2%
14.9%
14.9%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
September October November December
Pnad
PME Transversal
PME Longitudinal
13.2%
14.2% 14.3% 14.3%
17.7%
19.8%
21.5%
14.0%
14.0%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
September October November December
Pnad
PME Transversal
PME Longitudinal

12. Decomposition of the changes in Gini coefficient by income
source
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13. Bolsa Familia impacts
• Bolsa Familia accounted for something between 21 per cent and16 per
cent of the total fall in Brazilian inequality since 2001
• Bolsa Familia accounted for 8 per cent of the fall in poverty
headcount, 18 per cent of the poverty gap and 22 per cent of the
fall on the severity of poverty.
• Evaluations of Bolsa Familia also did not find any negative impact
on labour force participation.
• Some impact on hours of work for women in the informal sector
accompanied of an increase in time spent in domestic chores.
• Reduction on child mortality
• Positive impacts on school attendance and drop out rates
• No impacts on fertility rates.
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14. Real Minimum Wage (1985-2011)
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15. Targeting of the two main social assistance programmes
BPC and Bolsa Familia
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16. CCTs in Latin America: an overview
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17. Cobertura de los PTCs
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18. Gasto com los PTCs
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19. CCTs and Bolsa Familia in LAC
Common Features:
• Targeting mechanisms: geographical, categorical and
means testing;
• Co‐responsibilities: education and health;
• Cash: regular payment of cash to women/mother
• Rationale: immediate poverty alleviation and stop the
intergenerational cycle of poverty.
Beyond commonalities:
• Differ with regard to the emphasis in the two
objectives and with regards to...
… its place in the social protection system: permanent
welfare policy or short‐term safety net
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20. CCTs and AI in LAC
Three ideal types of CCTs in LAC
• Human capital accumulation
Strong role of conditionalities, not very regular verification, benefit structure,
no concerns about current generation – only as parents.
• Poverty alleviation/eradication
Strong role of the transfers, regular verification, benefit structure of
unconditional elements, weak conditionalities, concern about income
generation for current generation
• Eradication of extreme povery and case
management
Focus on extreme/chronic poverty, social exclusion, access to social
services, focus on linking with complementary programmes for all family
member and not only children, case management – regular visits by social
workers
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21. Bolsa Familia
What is next for Bolsa Familia:
• Challenges of Brasil sem Miseria
• Targeted basic income component
• Child benefit – the example of Argentina and Uruguay
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22. Bolsa Familia and CCT in LAC
How does Bolsa Família differs from other LAC CCTs:
• It has an unconditional component for the extreme poor and a
minimum permanence of two years,
• It does not use proxy means test and has large coverage (25%)
• It is implemented in places where there is no supply of health and
education services (and conditonalities are not required in this
case),
• Several steps are taken before exclusion from the programme for
non‐compliance with conditionalities (only after visit of the social
workers)
• Line Ministries in charge of conditionality monitoring
• Strong role at the local level – Use of New Public Management
tools to involve municipalities (IGD) – quality of the Cadastro
Único.
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23. References
• The Dual Nature of Bolsa Familia and its implications for the programme’s future:
http://www.ipc‐undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager243.pdf
• The impact of the Programa Bolsa Familia on Grade repetition: Results from Single Registry,
Attendance Project and School Census: http://www.ipc‐undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager233.pdf
• Oportunidades and Bolsa Familia: a comparative perspective of their evolution:
http://www.ipc‐undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager177.pdf
• No child left behind: a Universal Benefit for Children in Brazil: http://www.ipc‐
undp.org/pub/IPCPolicyResearchBrief27.pdf
• Bolsa Familia: A Summary of its Impacts: http://www.ipc‐
undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager137.pdf
• Assessment of the implications of the Bolsa Familia Programme for the Decent work agenda:
http://www.ipc‐undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager133.pdf
• Conditional Cash Transfer and the Basic Income Grant in Brazil: Will they ever merge?
http://www.ipc‐undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager124.pdf
• Targeting and Coverage of the Bolsa Familia Programme: What is the meaning of Eleven
Million Families? : http://www.ipc‐undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager117.pdf
• Empowering or Reinforcing Traditional roles: Can CCTs address gender vulnerabilities?
http://www.ipc‐undp.org/pub/IPCOnePager115.pdf
• Conditional Cash Transfer in Brazil, Chile and Mexico: Impacts Upon Inequality:
http://www.ipc‐undp.org/pub/IPCWorkingPaper35.pdf
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24. Many Thanks
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