Giovanna Bueno Cinacchi

This article compares three Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes (CCTPs), the Bolsa Família, the Asignación Universal por Hijo and the Universal Credit in, respectively, Brazil, Argentina, and Scotland from the standpoint of their conceptions and meanings. The objectives, conceptions and arguments that guide beneficiary selection and conditionalities are analysed and compared using the policy analysis methodology and focusing on the political and ideological contexts in which these policies were formulated. In the three countries, CCTPs have become the primary strategy for combating poverty in contexts of fiscal austerity. In Argentina and Brazil, with their historical deficits in access to social rights, the programmes have reduced the worst rates of income poverty and expanded social inclusion through health and education conditionalities, constituting a move to combat inequalities without changing the structural conditions that sustain them. In Scotland, Universal Credit broke with the universalist conception of welfare, of meeting people’s basic needs. By retracting social assistance and applying a punitive logic designed to produce behavioural changes among the poorest, it had adverse effects, especially on the most vulnerable in the population.

O artigo compara três Programas de Transferência Condicionada de Renda (PTCR): Programa Bolsa Família, Asignación Universal por Hijo e Universal Credit, respectivamente, no Brasil, na Argentina e na Escócia, na perspectiva de suas concepções e significados. A metodologia empregada é a análise de políticas, com enfoque nos contextos políticos e ideológicos em que essas políticas foram formuladas. Seus objetivos, concepções e argumentos que orientam a seleção de beneficiários e as condicionalidades são analisados e comparados. Nos três países, os PTRC tornaram-se a principal estratégia para enfrentar a pobreza em contexto de austeridade fiscal. Na Argentina e no Brasil, com déficits históricos de acesso a direitos sociais, os programas conseguiram diminuir os piores índices de pobreza de renda e expander a inclusão social por meio das condicionalidades em saúde e educação. Significaram um movimento de enfrentamento das desigualdades mesmo sem mudanças nas condições estruturais que as sustentam. Na Escócia, o Universal Credit rompeu com a concepção universalista do Welfare, de atender às necessidades básicas das pessoas, uma retração da assistência social, com uma lógica punitiva voltada para mudanças comportamentais dos mais pobres, com efeitos negativos especialmente sobre as populações mais vulneráveis.

Asociación de Educación e Investigación en Ciencia e la Información de Iberoamérica y el Caribe Ciências de la Información Archivología Bibliotecología Museología

This article aims to reflect on the challenges affecting people experiencing homelessness in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, due the COVID-19 pandemic. Participatory research was carried out to identify data related to sociodemographic profile; strategies for survival; health and social care support; and access to services during the pandemic. The research methodology was co-designed with NGOs and people with lived experience of homelessness and involved conducting semi-structured questionnaires with 304 participants in 2020. The results highlighted the worsening of the situation of extreme vulnerability and poverty already experienced by this population before the pandemic. Key strategies led by Third Sector organizations to reduce the spread of the virus, to minimize the financial impact of lockdown, and to increase emotional support and information on COVID-19 were presented. The conclusions show the complexity of issues affecting these groups and the need for urgent response from public policies and Government support to guarantee their rights, dignity, and respect during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.