Fome Zero

A few days ago in class we learned about a government program called 'Fome Zero' ('Zero Hunger') that was introduced by ex-president Lula in 2003.

I had been given a brief introduction to the scheme by a well-heeled Paulistana last Friday, but the way she put it was slightly different to what I read later.  She said something along the lines of "the government started paying them to stop migrating and stay where they were, because there were lots of people coming from the North-East, crime & poverty were increasing and Sao Paulo was getting too full. So they started paying them and it's getting less now."  Um, OK.  Thanks for that explanation... [backing away slowly from what would be a Daily Mail reader where I come from]

Then we read a text on it in school and it was more like "there was starvation, poverty and high infant mortality going on in several parts of Brazil - particularly the North-East - and the government pledged to do something about it".  Sounds a little different, huh?

As with anything political, the reasons for undertaking it were probably a bit of both.

The centrepiece of the Fome Zero program is the Bolsa Familia (Family Allowance), which is the largest conditional cash transfer system in the world.  It contributed to a 27.7% decrease in poverty in Brazil during ex-President Lula's first term (2001-2006).  27.7%.  The condition of receiving the Bolsa Familia is that the family's children attend school.

I've heard and read about funds badly administered, that they don't always get to the people that need them the most, or that it's just throwing money at the problem and not actually fixing it - and maybe on some level they are all true.  However, a decrease in poverty like that is not to be sniffed at - it is a major achievement.

Brazil has a long way to go on a lot of fronts, but they are making progress slowly - and the will to change is there.