Cash transfer program Bolsa Família turns 20, reaches 21 mi families

Brazil’s largest cash transfer program, the Bolsa Família, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The commemoration ceremony was held at the building of the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family, and Fight Against Hunger, and was attended by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is recovering from a surgery at his official residence, the Alvorada Palace.

The initiative was created on October 20, 2003, during President Lula’s first term in office. The plan combines a set of public policies and facilitates families’ access to basic rights, such as health, education, and welfare.

Victimized children

In his speech, President Lula listed the personalities who helped create the program and played an active role in the discussion about food security under his administrations. He also highlighted income distribution as a boost to development and to the improvement of people’s quality of life.

He expressed solidarity with the children who are dying as a result of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian extremist group Hamas in the Middle East. More than 1,500 children have died in the Gaza Strip.

“Such irrationality, such insanity, is beyond conceivable, just as people waging war even though they realize that the ones dying are women, elderly people, and children,” he said, reaffirming his call for peace, in defense of Palestinian and Israeli children.

Benefits granted

The first Bolsa Família payment was made in October 2003 and benefited 1.15 million families; each received an average of BRL 73.67.

This month, 21.45 million families across all 5,570 Brazilian municipalities are recipients. Payments are made after a schedule, beginning on the 18th of each month and continuing until the 31st. The average paid was BRL 688.97 in October.

One of the objectives of the new Bolsa Família is to step up protection for children and adolescents and give proportional assistance to different family compositions. In the month of its 20th anniversary, the ministry implemented an additional benefit for mothers of babies up to six months old. The additional payment corresponds to six installments of BRL 50, and aims to guarantee children’s food.

Requirements

The updated guidelines also include parameters designed during President Lula’s first government. The main one requires families to seek pre-natal care for their pregnant women and to monitor the nutritional status of children under seven.

Families are also required to update their vaccination record with all vaccines stipulated in the Brazil’s national vaccination program. Beneficiaries must also ensure that children and adolescents attend school at a rate of 60 percent for children aged four to five and 75 percent for those aged six to 18 who have not completed basic education.