Brasília, January 14, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Yesterday (13), the Minister of Social Assistance and Promotion, Benedita da Silva, presented the Minister of Education, Cristovam Buarque, with a proposal to create a unified list that permits the integration of social programs executed by different areas of the federal government. The objective is to avoid overlapping activities, to eliminate spending waste and to provide people an integrated service.

Among the projects to which Minister da Silva referred are the Ministry of Education's School Grant and campaign to end illiteracy; the Ministry of Health's community health agents; and the Ministry of Labor's youth training program. The measure will also benefit new initiatives, such as Minister da Silva's own National Program of Integral Family Assistance, and the Ministry of Cities' proposed municipalization of activities.

"What we are seeking is for this policy to quantify and define who these people are, since there exists an exclusion, an invisibility," Benedita affirmed. (DAS)