According to the Brazilian government numbers, around 85% of the people served by the Family Grant program consider the program to be excellent or good. And for 88%, the family’s situation improved after they began to receive this assistance from the government.
The data are contained a study done for the Brazilian Ministry of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation at the end of 2005. Interviews were conducted with 2.3 thousand of the program’s beneficiaries all over Brazil.
The analysis shows a 21.35% annual increase in family income. "On average, the benefit amounts to US$ 30.26 (R$ 64.19), and, with it, average family income rose from US$ 142.35 (R$ 302) to US$ 172.52 (R$ 366) per month," says Rômulo Paes, the secretary in charge of the Evaluation of Information Management in the Ministry.
"The recipients spend around 40% of this money on food, therefore indicating that it has a positive impact on these people’s budgets," he affirms.
According to the secretary, the study also showed that, while the program has helped to improve these people’s lives, there is still much that needs to be done.
The Family Grant, which was created in 2004, is intended to make it possible for the poorer members of the population to have access to basic social rights, such as health, food, education, and social assistance.
ABr