Bolsa Familia is a conditional cash transfer program that delivers monthly allowances to the poorest 12 million Brazilian families, including indigenous people in extremely remote areas. The transfers target the “head” woman in each family, who is then responsible for fulfilling a number of “conditions” such as keeping the children in school and keeping up with their vaccination schedule. The total number of people impacted by Bolsa Familia is around 45 million (family members and others). In the outset of the financial crisis, the Brazilian government increased the program from 11 million beneficiaries to over 12 million.

The first step will be to offer simplified bank accounts. Over 2 million beneficiaries have an account today, half million opened it after receiving a letter from Bolsa Familia about this project. The bank (Caixa, a government bank) is helping produce IDs for those who do not have one. The Ministry believes 6 million new accounts will be opened by the end of 2010 (the goal of the program is only 4 million). A mass marketing campaign is planned so that people will know their transfers can land in a bank account, giving them a chance to save part of the transfer and use a bank card for purchases at retail outlets. The attached picture shows a family carrying a yellow Bolsa Familia debit card with the logo of the bank. The person can choose between Visa or Mastercard.
The second phase of the program will offer credit to beneficiaries who are identified as micro-entrepreneurs. At the same time, the Ministry will be doing studies to help Caixa design additional products and services to the new clients, such as doing a baseline survey on financial capability, and a study on the use of formal and informal financial services by the poor in Brazil.

-Denise Dias