Brazil makes headway in bid for 'Zero Hunger'

"In North Africa, they have largely relied on price-distorting food subsidies for their social-safety nets," says Lindert. "If a country there could switch to a conditional cash-transfer model like Brazil's, I think there would be a lot of improvements – both for efficiency and for equity, and promoting educational and health links."

Brazil has even gotten a boost from celebrities: U2's Bono donated one of his guitars to the campaign while in Brazil last February; it is expected to net even more than the $132,000 earned last year for Lenny Kravitz's donated guitar.

Still, the program has been the subject of fierce domestic criticism and has been hurt by repeated bad press in the lead-up to the Oct. 1st elections.

"They want to make a name for Brazil abroad for this program," says Rogerio Crisostomo as he waits for fares at a taxi stand in São Paolo. "But the only way to really end hunger is with more work."

While part of the Zero Hunger strategy has involved increasing the minimum wage, unemployment still hovers above 10 percent.

Some critics have accused the program of being aimed at buying votes from the poor. They have also pointed to what they say is mismanagement in getting goods to people effectively.

"There have been problems with the distribution of resources and with finding families," says Maria Carmeli Yasbek, a professor at Sao Paolo's Catholic University. "Moreover, many poor people still don't have access."

José Graziano da Silva, the Latin American representative for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a former minister under Lula, acknowledges that Zero Hunger would sometimes organize public donation campaigns where companies would give foodstuffs, or people would bring bags of beans or rice to soccer games. But often, collecting and transporting those donations ended up costing more than buying them.

"Many people didn't believe in the sincerity of the Lula government at the beginning of this program, and there were all sorts of criticisms, especially from the media," says Mr. Graziano.

But, he says, Zero Hunger benefits from having specific goals. It combines emergency measures with structural changes, like family agriculture programs, agrarian reform, and initiatives to educate families about nutrition – something he says has never been done before in Latin America.

He adds that the president rallied private and public interests and coordinated between federal, state, and local government.

The FAO, which has donated funds to Zero Hunger sent experts this year to evaluate the program. It is waiting until after the elections to release the results.

Another concern has been the prospects for weaning participants from the program.

"Far from creating dependency, people can use the program for a year [extendable to two]," says Josita Correto da Rocha, a social-work professor at the Federal University of Mato Grosso. "And while receiving Family Grant, they have to undertake activities to end their dependency."

Proponents also argue that literacy training and rural job-training encourages self-sufficiency. There are more than 60 programs under the Zero Hunger umbrella – which have also targeted clean water and electricity supplies.

Back in Estructural, Norberia walks through the neighborhood store, loading her cart with rice, beans, cooking oil, and eggs. At the cash register, she takes out the magnetic card she uses to buy groceries. She says she wants to go back to school when her kids are older. She plans to leave the program soon.

"I want to be able to make my own living," she says, "and pass this card on to someone who may need it more than I do."

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