Patrus Ananias de Sousa, former Minister of Social Development and the Fight against Hunger of Brazil, talks about the Comprehensive Family Attention Program (PAIF) and the importance of mobilizing all social actors to combat the practice.

After the conference of former Minister Patrus Ananias, Patricia Vieira da Costa, representative of the National Secretariat of Income and Citizenship of Brazil, took the stage to tell how the conditional income transfer programs work, which are synonymous with success in Brazil.

According to Patrícia, a single registry was created with information on all families with a profile to participate in income redistribution programs. "In this way, it is easier to register families in national, federal and even municipal programs. Today we have 22 million people registered in this registry," says Patricia.

The single registry serves as the basis, for example, for the Bolsa Familia, the main income redistribution program in the country. With this, families receive aid according to the number of children (maximum five) and whether the mother is pregnant or breastfeeding. "It is important to remember that to receive the benefit, children and adolescents of school age must attend schools regularly. This control is carried out every two months by the Ministry of Education," adds Patricia. According to her, the update of beneficiaries of the Bolsa Familia is biennial, but the idea is that this term is reduced more and more to minimize errors.

Another good example is the PETI, Program for the Eradication of Child Labor. At a national level, this program brings together a set of actions that seeks to protect children and adolescents from child labor, except in the case of apprentices, who can start working at the age of 14. The program proposes the integration of actions from the most diverse areas, such as social assistance, education, health, work and employment, agricultural development, the environment, etc., in the training and assistance to children and families who are at risk. . With the help of psychologists, social workers and educators, as well as social actors from the most diverse areas related to child and youth development, these children come of age more prepared to get a good job and a better life.

Patricia also tells, according to a study carried out in 2009 with beneficiaries who act in the PETI, that "the program fulfills the function of protecting children and adolescents; qualify the free time of children and adolescents, who participate in activities when They are not in schools, prevent risk situations on the streets, contribute to strengthening ties and increase the permanence of the beneficiaries in the classroom.

Patricia Vieira da Costa, National Secretariat for
Income and Citizenship of Brazil, and Nancy Dominguez,
Embrace Program of Paraguay