REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND EXIT OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAMILY GRANT PROGRAM BENEFICIARIES

Abstract

Doi: 10.12957/geouerj.2015.18769

This article envisages to contribute for the discussion about "exit" opportunities for the Family Grant Program, implemented by the federal government. It states that it is necessary to strengthen regional development policies in Brazil in order that program's beneficiaries, who live in poor or less dynamic regions, may have easier access to opportunities in productive activities, no longer being dependant on government aid. This text analyses the territorial distribution of such beneficiaries and demonstrates that small and medium municipalities far away from large urban centers, with bigger percentages of beneficiaries in relation to the total number of families, are also the ones that generate fewer opportunities for formal employments. Education and capacity building have been the main instruments proposed to enable the integration in productive activities of the population currently dependent on social programs. However, in the absence of institutions and policies that help create more opportunities in these poor or less dynamic regions, the only options for the beneficiaries, after receiving education and training, will be to migrate in search of jobs or continue dependant on government aid.