THE International Social Security Association has announced that the Government of Brazil has won its first ‘Award for Outstanding Achievement in Social Security’ for the pioneering Bolsa Família poverty-reduction programme.

Launched in 2003 by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Bolsa Família is a conditional cash transfer programme that today reaches an estimated 50 million poor Brazilians, by supplementing their income.
The scheme provides money to a family on condition that the children attend school regularly and have been vaccinated. Cash transfers are made directly to female heads of household via a payment card, empowering them to make decisions about family education and health, which benefits child welfare.

Bolsa Família is the largest scheme of its kind in the world and is estimated to cost only around 0.5 per cent of Brazilian GDP. The programme aims to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty which can result in social dependency, and by linking cash transfers to school attendance, has improved results. The scheme has helped increase equality in Brazil, and since 2003 has lifted an estimated 36 million Brazilians out of extreme poverty, including 22 million people in the past two years, since the Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff started her tenure.
In a message to the ISSA, President Rousseff stated that “Brazil accepts with great honour the ISSA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Social Security. This is an important recognition of the effort made by the Brazilian Government to improve social protection in the country. Bolsa Família guarantees that 36 million Brazilians can live above the extreme poverty line, keeps 16 million children and adolescents in school, and has been a decisive tool to reduce child mortality. Brazil has millions of reasons to be proud of Bolsa Família, a programme that reduces inequalities and benefits all Brazilians.”
Announcing the Award, the ISSA President Errol Frank Stoové said, “The Award recognises the unique success of Bolsa Família, which has helped alleviate poverty amongst the poorest families in Brazil and has boosted education and health for their children. It has demonstrated that conditional cash transfer programmes can be highly effective forms of social security. It is our hope the ISSA Award will encourage more governments to take note of the Brazilian experience and consider adopting similar programmes to the benefit of their citizens.”
The ISSA Award will be presented to a high-level representative of the Government of Brazil at the World Social Security Forum, slated to take place in Doha, Qatar, from 10-15 November 2013. The Forum will be attended by the ISSA leadership, representatives of the Qatari authorities and more than 1,000 social security policy-makers and senior administrators from 150 countries.

WORLD FORUM ON FUTURE OF SOCIAL SECURITY
Social security systems, providing protection for hundreds of millions of people worldwide and representing up to 30 per cent of national GDP, are facing both complex challenges and opportunities. The World Social Security Forum will provide a unique platform to share knowledge and identify successful strategies for sustaining social security, and strengthening its positive impact on economic growth and social cohesion in the future.
“Social security systems have to navigate in a challenging global environment. To rise above these challenges, social security administrations need to develop new and innovative approaches, based on a strong commitment to excellence,” the ISSA Secretary General Hans-Horst Konkolewsky stated.