Milena Assis
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Representatives from six African countries are in Brazil to learn how the Family Grant, the Ministry of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation's income transfer program, functions.
The delegation, made up of 30 individuals, wants to analyze the possibilities, limits, and potentialities of their continent and then devise ways for similar programs to be implemented in Africa.

According to Antônio Claret, managing director of the ministry's Income Transfer Program, the purpose of the trip is to become better acquainted with Brazil's experience in administering the program and to discuss operational details, ranging from the process of listing the families to the system of payment through banks and the whole issue of income transfer.

"The Family Grant can help these countries design policies to combat extreme poverty, in accordance with their specific circumstances," Claret said. According to the director, transferring income to African families constitutes a challenge in the effort to reduce poverty and the illiteracy rate. "The African continent will benefit society by associating income transfer, which attacks the poverty problem, with alternative ways to provide education."

In Claret's opinion, exporting the Family Grant indicates that the Brazilian program is on the right track. He pointed out, moreover, that "criticism and evaluation are signs that the strategy we are following in Brazil is successful."

Tomorrow (26), the African delegation will visit the municipality of Formosa, in the state of Goiás. The city was selected as a good example of the application of the Family Grant, because it has an interesting project coordinating this program with the broader social protection network, which includes family follow-up and initiatives for the creation of jobs and income.

Translation: David Silberstein