Bolsa Família

Bolsa Família (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈbowsɐ fɐˈmiʎɐ], Family Allowance) is a social welfare program of the Brazilian government, part of the Fome Zero network of federal assistance programs. Bolsa Família provides financial aid to poor Brazilian families; if they have children, families must ensure that the children attend school and are vaccinated. If they exceed the total of permitted school absence's, they are dropped from the program and their funds are suspended. The program attempts to both reduce short-term poverty by direct cash transfers and fight long-term poverty by increasing human capital among the poor through conditional cash transfers. It also works to give free education to children who cannot afford to go to school to show the importance of education.

The Economist described Bolsa Família as an "anti-poverty scheme invented in Latin America [which] is winning converts worldwide."

The program was a centerpiece of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's social policy, and is reputed to have played a role in his victory in the Brazilian presidential election, 2006. Bolsa Família is currently the largest conditional cash transfer program in the world, though the Mexican program Oportunidades was the first nationwide program of this kind.

The Bolsa Família program has been mentioned as one factor contributing to the reduction of poverty in Brazil, which fell 27.7% during the first term in the Lula administration. In 2006 the Center for Political Studies of the Getulio Vargas Foundation has published a study showing that there was a sharp reduction in the number of people in poverty in Brazil between 2003 and 2005. Other factors include an improvement in the job market and real gains on the minimum wage.

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