Brazil makes headway in bid for 'Zero Hunger'

In the sprawling shantytown ofEstructural, Norberia Brito holds her newborn daughter in one arm, while with the other she stirs her feijao, a lunch of black beans and rice. It's one of the few dishes the young mother of three can afford on the 95 reals ($44) she gets monthly from the government.

That's just enough to buy food, and cover water and utility bills. "This program has helped me so much," she says. "Before, I just didn't have enough money to eat."

Norberia belongs to the Bolsa Familia (Family Grant) program – the flagship of Brazil's Zero Hunger Initiative. Zero Hunger was the first program President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva launched when he took the helm in 2003.

Brazil is the world's fourth-largest food exporter, but more than 40 million Brazilians – a quarter of the population – lived below the poverty line, prompting Lula to vow to stamp out hunger by December 2006. This June, the government said it had surpassed its goal,reaching 11.1 million families.

The program, which gives cash directly to mothers on a sliding scale, has been criticized for its uneven distribution and potential for breeding dependency. Corruption charges leveled against members of Lula's administration last year also contributed to a general distrust of government programs, although there were never any specific charges against Zero Hunger.

But supporters, including the World Bank and USAID, say it provides a model that can transcend national boundaries, showing countries how to streamline bureaucracies and give individuals skills to pull themselves out of poverty.

"Bolsa Familia is a very promising instrument that integrates four preexisting programs into a single program," says Kathy Lindert, a World Bank economist based in Brasilia. "That has an immediate efficiency gain."

The program is funded by a combination of private-sector partnerships, international support, and government contributions. Since Lula took power, Brazil's social spending has more than tripled – to 17 billion reals ($8 billion) in 2005 from 6 billion reals in 2002. This year's expenditures could reach 21 billion reals ($9.8 billion).

Lending institutions, typically conservative about social spending, haven't raised many alarms about Brazil's strategy. This January, Lula announced Brazil had fully paid off its $15 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund. Brazil has kept inflation in check and its economy has grown slowly but steadily.

In January, a delegation of government officials from South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and Zambia visited Brazil to learn about the Family Grant program. Ms. Lindert calls Brazil a "superstar" in exporting its program to Latin American and African countries.

A key element of the program is its practice of giving grants of 50 to 95 reals ($23-$44) per month directly to mothers, depending on the number of children they have in school.

"We decided to give it to female heads of household instead of men because our research showed that mothers are more zealous in controlling family resources," says Brazil's minister for social development and hunger eradication, Patrus Ananias. "Mothers are more careful, and they prioritize basic needs."

This sort of cash support, coupled with specific requirements, can be very effective, some analysts say.

Page: 1 | 2