The course will present the development of social policy in Brazil, focusing on conditional cash transfer programs since 2004. In this regard, policy of the current Brazilian government will be presented, especially the launching of the Program Brazil Without Poverty (Brazil Sem Miséria) with an emphasis on the program to support environmental conservation Green Grant (Bolsa Verde).

Cash transfer initiatives, which started back in 1990, have expanded social protection in Brazil. These include state and local programs of school grants. The federal version started in 2001. The Family Allowance program (?Bolsa Familia?) was created in 2004, which unified the main existing programs (School Grants ?Bolsa Escola?, Gas Vouchers ?Vale Gás?, and Food Card ?Cartão Alimentação?) into a single initiative, unifying the entries in the Register of the Federal Government's Social Programs (?CadÚnico?). From an institutional point of view, the unification was based on the strengthening of the three federal levels of Brazil through the division of mandates and the creation of incentive mechanisms, among which the resources transferred by the central government to states and municipalities. This transfer is conducted according to the Index of Decentralised Management-IDM. According to this index, financial resources are transferred to sub-national entities on the basis of their performance in the management of the Register ?CadÚnico? and the monitoring of conditionalities legally established for families benefiting from the programme Family Allowance (Bolsa Família).

The beginning of the Government of President Dilma Rousseff, in January 2011, was marked by the establishment of the goal to eradicate of extreme poverty in Brazil. Estimates of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), based on the 2010 census data, indicated the existence of 16.2 million people living in extreme poverty, i.e. with family per capita income below 70 Brazilian Real.
To achieve this goal, the Program Brazil Without misery was launched in June 2011. This program is grounded on three axes: income security, productive inclusion and access to services.
Among the actions of productive inclusion in rural areas, the Green Grant provides quarterly transfers 300 Brazilian Real, for families engaged in environmental conservation activities, maintenance of vegetation cover and its sustainable use, in areas such as Units of Conservation and Projects of Settlement.

The main purpose of the course is to present the main Brazilian strategies to address the incidence of poverty and extreme poverty, with emphasis on their impacts and the institutional dimensions of inter-federal management.

1) The Family Allowance Program (Bolsa Familia): typology of benefits, target audience, budget, major impacts.
2) The Plan Brazil Without Poverty (Plano Brasil Sem Miséria): actions taken and results observed after a year.
3) The Green Grant Program Scholarship Program (Bolsa Verde): strategies, target audience, expected impacts.

Presentations, illustrated by slides, with a 45 minutes question and answer session at the end.

To provide an understanding of the social policies and major recent advances in this regard in Brazil and the challenges for overcoming extreme poverty.