All but four municipalities in the country (99.9%) declared to have, in 2009, an organizational structure prepared to deal with social assistance policies. Social assistance has reached a high level of coverage (98.6%), as observed from the high percentages of municipalities which declared to offer basic and special social protection services (97,9% and 87.6%, respectively)¹. However, in the group of special protection, highly complex municipal services are still seldom present: Shelter for Children and Teenagers (24.5%), for instance, is seen in almost one fourth of the municipalities, whereas Shelter for the Elderly is offered by 20.6% of them. Even bigger percentages refer to municipalities which declared to have Shelter for the Homeless Population (5.2%), and Women’s Shelter services (2.7%). Considering entities which work in partnership with the public sector, two-thirds of the municipalities declared not to supervise the services rendered.

Among the municipalities which declared to have a social-assistance department, 1,352 (24.3% of the Brazilian municipalities) reported that it was ruled by the first lady. Almost half of these managing ladies (47.4%) had a university degree. In 2009, municipalities employed 182,436 servants in social assistance, most of them on a permanent-basis. Regarding regulation and management, the existence of a Municipal Plan for Social Assistance reached 93.1%, in 2009, and the existence of municipal Councils for Social Assistance, 99.3%. Only 67.6% of the municipalities declared to have a management committee for the Family Grant Program. A total 97.7% of the municipalities had a Municipal Social Assistance Fund. In 2009, 4,861 (87.3%) of the municipalities declared to receive co-funding for social assistance from the federal and/or state government. Out of this total, 97.6% obtained funding from the federal government. With reference to state co-funding, São Paulo had a proportion of 94.0% municipalities covered, opposite to Minas Gerais (with only 20.6%). Without any state funding were the states of Alagoas, Acre and Rondônia. These and other data integrate the supplement of Social Assistance of the Survey of Basic Municipal Information – MUNIC 2009, conducted by IBGE in partnership with the Ministry of Social Development and Combat to Hunger, which presents a portrait of social assistance policies in the municipalities.

Almost all the Brazilian municipalities (99.8%) declared to have an organizational structure to deal with social assistance policies, either by means of an exclusive secretariat (70%), a secretariat shared with other policy, or sector a directly under the responsibility of a mayor or another secretariat. Only four municipalities declared not to have this kind of structure: Barão de Antonina (SP); Fama (MG); Monte Belo do Sul (RS) and Rio do Antonio (BA).

 

The percentage of municipalities which declared to provide social assistance services, in 2009, represented almost all the Brazilian municipalities (98.6%).  In 2005, this figure was 96.3%; the increase, in terms of Major Regions, occurred with less intensity in the South (with change from 93.9% to 99.2%), being higher in the groups of municipalities with up to 5 thousand inhabitants (from 93.5% to 97.5%).

 

Among Basic Social Protection Services, the Family Full Care Service (PAIF), was present in 85.6% of the municipalities, whereas the Full-time Social Assistance (a traditional form of social assistance), in 67.9% of them. When data are analyzed according to population size ranges, the occurrence of Family Full Care Services overcame Full-time Social Assistance in all groups. Only in the South Region did the incidence of Full-time Social Assistance (81.3%) surpass that of Family Full Care Program (78.1%).

 

Services for the elderly were in the second position (84.0%), among those of basic protection, having reached 94.2% in the Central West, 88.1% in the South and 86.6% in the North. Socio-educational services for youngsters between 15 and 17 years of age were mentioned by 67.3% of the municipalities. The percentage of municipalities with social assistance in the Northeast Region reached 81.1%, whereas in the South Region they made up 46.3%. On the other hand, services directed to children aged 0 to 6 years was the less commonly provided service (58.6%).

Services for teenagers who are under socio-educational measures were provided by 41.5% of the municipalities

Among services called Special Social Protection of Medium Complexity, the most widespread ones were the Child Labor Eradication Program (66.6%)². Less than half of the municipalities in the country declared to offer the Service of Support and Guidance to Individuals and Families Victimized by Violence (45.6%) and the Service for Combating Violence, Abuse and Sexual Exploitation of Children and Teenagers and their Families (39.0%), which have been investigated separately and now integrate the Service of Protection and Specialized Care of Families and Individuals – PAEFI³. Also listed as a medium complexity service, the Service of Social Protection to Teenagers in Compliance to Socio-educational Measures in Open Conditions was present in 41.5% of the municipalities, the Habilitation and Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons, in 32.9%; Social Approach in the Streets, 22.3%, and other Services for the Homeless Population, in 13% of them.

At the level of medium complexity, socio-educational services of PETI presented the highest percentages in municipalities with up to 5 thousand inhabitants (51.3%); in those with 5 to 10 thousand inhabitants (63.4%); between 10 and 20 thousand inhabitants (68.7%) and between 20 and 50 thousand inhabitants (75.5%). The occurrence of this Program is a highlight in the North (91.1%), Northeast (80.8%) and Central West (81.8%) Regions.

 

One of the most relevant protection services in municipalities with smaller populations is directed to teenagers who are under socio-educational measures, as mentioned by 30.0% of the municipalities with up to 5 thousand inhabitants and by 31.4% of the municipalities with a population between 5 and 10 thousand inhabitants.  However, when it comes to spatial distribution, this kind of service is less frequently seen in the Northeast (27.3%) and North (34.7%), being more common in the South, where it is offered by 56.3% of the municipalities.

Shelter services for the homeless are present in less than 1% of the municipalities in the North and Northeast  

The supply of high-complexity services (shelters)⁴ is still very little common in the country; the most common services of this kind are Shelter for Children and Teenagers (24.5%) and Elderly (20.6%). The percentage of municipalities offering other types of High Complexity services are: 9.2% with Foster Family Program; 5.2% with Shelter for the Homeless Population; 4.7% with Shelter Services for Adults and Families; and 2.7% with Shelter Services for Women.

In municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants, the Foster Family Program reached 40.0%, in 25.3% of those with a population between 100 and 500 thousand inhabitants and 7% of the municipalities with up to 5 thousand inhabitants. Although this percentage seems to be low, in this group it is almost the same as the service of institutional sheltering, which reaches 7.3%. 

 

The percentage of municipalities offering shelter services directed to women, adults/families and homeless population is still small, especially in the Northeast (5.0%) and North (less than 1.0%), as well as in municipalities with less than 50 thousand inhabitants. 

 

The supply of shelter services for the elderly has been surveyed under the subcategory Institutional Shelters or Hostels. The former was present in 20.6% of the municipalities and the latter, in only 1.3%.

 

Women victimized by violence are sent to shelters in only 2.7% of the municipalities

 

Although women are severely affected by instances of domestic violence, their access to this kind of service occurs in only 2.7% of the Brazilian municipalities. There is uneven supply by municipality size range; the aforementioned type of service is present in 72.5% of municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants and less than 0.6% in municipalities with up to 50 thousand inhabitants.

 

Programs for qualification and reintegration to job market are among the most commonly offered services

 

Home visitation is the most commonly offered activity (93.1%) among those conducted for the execution of social assistance services. Social and family care was reported by 89.6% of the municipalities, followed by Home Care (89.3%), by the activity Socioeconomic Registration, reported by 88.4%. The supply of Occasional Benefits, aimed at persons and families affected by social contingencies, is present in 79.4% of the municipalities.

 

Other social services which record significant participation are those related to Work and Income Generation (77.0%) and Qualification and Preparation for the job market (58.5%). This points to the fact that the participation in or reintegration to the job market is somehow linked to situations of social vulnerability.

 

Within the scope of labor and income, MUNIC shows there are 2,233 units of Labor and Income Generation Centers in 1,320 Brazilian municipalities. Among these, 1,609 are public units and 624 are partner ones. The Northeast (81.3%) and North (68.8%) are the Major Regions ones with the biggest proportion of labor and income generation centers. The Central West (67.2%) features in the second position and the Southeast (51.7%) and South (46.8%) are the ones with the lowest percentages.

 

The two activities related to mobilization (Mobilization for Citizenship and Mobilization and Strengthening of Living Together and Social Support Networks) reached levels of, respectively, 57.1% and 47.7%.  Although significant, these occurrences are relatively very low when compared to other activities reported by municipalities.

 

 

Two-thirds of the municipalities do not supervise services rendered by entities associated to the government

 

In the field of activities aimed at management, the highlight was the low percentage of municipalities (37.0%)  which declared to supervise Social Assistance Services offered in partnership with NGOs/Social-Assistance Entities, that is, two thirds of the municipalities do not have supervision activities for services maintained by entities associated to the government for the supply of these services.

 

Concerning activities related to management, 82% of the municipalities reported Revision of BPC services – Continuous Service Supply Benefit, which helped the social assistance field to take care of this important benefit established by the Federal Constitution of 1988 and whose management and operation is still under the responsibility of Social Security departments.

 

Units of social assistance networks

 

The Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS) establishes the existence of units of social assistance networks in territories inhabited by up to 5 thousand families. However, this is true in 5,029 municipalities. The South Region presents the lowest percentage of municipalities with Social Assistance units (86.5%). In other positions feature the North (88.9%) and the Southeast (89.3%). The Northeast (92.5%) and Central West Regions (97.2%) were the ones presenting the highest percentage. All the municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, in all the areas, have Social Assistance units, the only exception being the Northeast Region, where the percentage reached 99.1%.

 

According to Munic, there were 5,499 Social Assistance Reference Centers (CRAS) in the country, distributed among 4,032 municipalities (72.5%). In the South, a little more than half of them (52.4%) had a CRAS. In the Southeast Region, the percentage was 67.8%, whereas in the North and Central West, 75.1%. The Northeast was the Major Region with the biggest percentage of CRAS units in municipalities.

 

1/3 of Brazilian cities have Community Centers

 

Munic shows there are 911 Community Centers (which offer community services and activities to establish ties among children, teenagers, youngsters, elderly and their families) in 1,426 Brazilian municipalities, less than 1/3 of the total cities in the country. Among these units, 570 are public ones and 341 work in partnership.

 

Considering Youth Centers and services aimed at the Centers for Children and Teenagers in Brazilian municipalities, there are 5,451 centers all over the country. In relation to youth centers, in 6.9% of Brazilian municipalities it is possible to find them. In the North Region, it reaches 14.3%; in the Southeast, 9.2% and in the Central West, 7.5%. On the other hand, the Northeast and South recorded 5.4% and 2.9%, respectively.

 

Centers aimed at the work with children and teenagers were found in 28.3% of the Brazilian municipalities. The area with a higher percentage of municipalities with this type of equipment is the Southeast (35.4%) followed by the South (32.5%) and North (30.1%). The Central West and Northeast end the list with 25.3% and 19.2% respectively.

 

Munic brings results Institutional Sheltering Services supplied as Home Houses, Institutional Shelters, Halfway Home and Inclusive Residence, directed to families and/or individuals with broken family relationships, in order to guarantee thorough.

 

Home Houses, by type of unit and public, are present in only 20.2% of the municipalities. This percentage increases to 30.4% in the South Region, 29.7% in the Southeast and 27.9% in the Central West. However, in the North and Northeast, it falls to 10.7% and 5.1%, respectively. The highlights were Home Houses directed to children and teenagers, which were more commonly seen in the Southeast and South, 14.5% and 21.1%, respectively. Home Houses directed to the elderly were present in 6.9% of the municipalities in the North and in percentages above that of the Northeast region (3.3%).

 

Only 130 municipalities have institutional shelters for women

 

The institutional shelter is a type present in 1,336 Brazilian municipalities, that is, in 24.0% of the total. Shelters for Children and Teenagers (964 municipalities, 17.3%) are present in a bigger number than shelters for the elderly (711 municipalities) and for “women victimized by violence” (130 municipalities). The Southeast Region presents the biggest proportion of municipalities with this type of shelter, 27.0%, followed by the South, with 25.3% and with lower results comes the Central West, with 16.3%. The North and Northeast were the regions accounting for the lowest proportion of municipalities with shelters for this public. There are 322 shelters for “children and teenagers”; 216 for the “elderly” and 38 for “women”.

 

Only 130 municipalities have institutional shelters for Women, being 88 public ones and 63partner ones. Three Federation Units do not even have this type of shelter: Roraima, Amapá and Federal District. Even considering the absence of the Federal District, the Central West Region was the one with the highest percentage of municipalities with this place. Only 0.8% of states in the Northeast Region have shelters for women.

 

 

Munic showed there are, in Brazil, 1,063 Shelters for the Elderly, in 711 municipalities, being 210 of them in São Paulo. The municipalities in the North and Northeast regions were proportionally less significant in relation to shelter for the elderly: 5.1% and 5.2%, respectively.

 

Northeast region has lowest percentage of municipalities with Halfway Houses

 

There are 469 Halfway Houses, in 416 municipalities. In all the Regions, there are reduced proportions of municipalities offering this type of service, most of them in the South (10.8%) and the least in the Northeast (3.5%). There are 138 shelters (like hostels) - 97 are public and 123 are used through partnerships. In most municipalities, Hostels are directed to the service of the elderly population. In none of the Major Regions does the percentage of municipalities with hostels for youngsters and adults reach 1.0%. Hostels for the elderly do not make up 7.0% in the Central West Region, the most significant one, and in the North and Northeast Regions they do not reach 1.0% of the respective number of municipalities.

 

Municipal income transfer programs are present in 464 municipalities

 

Munic 2009 showed that there are municipal income transfers in 464 municipalities in the country (8.3%). They are more often seen in bigger municipalities, and exist in 42.5% of the municipalities with over 500 thousand inhabitants. In terms of Major Regions, there are no significant differences with changes between 7.3% and 10.1%.

 

Between 2005 and 2009, the number of municipalities with a secretariat working exclusively on social assistance increased from 59.0% to 70.1%

 

According to MUNIC 2009, the social assistance managing department is strongly connected to direct administration; only 8 municipalities declared to keep its social assitance management in an indirect administration department.

They are in Pará (1), Ceará (1), Paraná (1), Rio Grande do Sul (1) and Goiás (3).

 

In 2005, 16 municipalities declared not to have any specific structure to deal with social assistane policies. In 2009, only 4 were in this situation - Barão de Antonina (SP); Fama (MG); Monte Belo do Sul (RS) and Rio do Antonio (BA), that is, 99.9% of the Brazilian municipalities had such department structure. From 2005 to 2009, the percentage of municipalities with a secretariat structure for social assistance, either exclusive or not, increased from 80.0% to 92.6%.

 

There is predominance of exclusive secretarats in the country, having changed from 59.0% in 2005 to 70.1% in 2009. Other municipalities had a secretariat structure  together with other policies (22.5%); a sector under setor under the responsibility of executive power (4.6%) and a sector under the responsibility of another secretariat (2.6%).

 

 

In the North and Central West Regions, all the municipalities had a structure to deal with social assistance policies in 2009.

 

The percentage of exclusive secretariats in Major Regions is 7.7% in the North, 78.0% in the Northeast, 72.0% in the Southeast and 83.0% in the Central West . The South had a different behavior, since only 47.7% of its municipalities had managing departments characterized as a specific secretariat.

 

The department in charge of social assistance policies has innternet access in 98.0% of the municipalities

 

The survey result in 2005 showed that 88.9% of the Brazilian municipalities had internet access in the department in chanrge of social assistance. In 2009, this proportion was 98.0%. The proportion of municipalities with broadband Internet access was 79.7% in 2005 and 93.4% in 2009, and with dial Internet access, 20.3% in 2005 and 4.7% in 2009.

 

Only  5.6%  of the municipalities with departments in charge of the politics of social assistance had a home page on the internet for this same department. Among a group of 5,565 municipalities, only 311 offered this kind of service. In municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants, 55.0% of city representatives declared to hava a  specific home page for the social assistance department.

 

First ladies administered almost one fourth of social assistance managing institutions

 

Out of the municipalities which declared to have a social assistance managing institution, 1,352 (24.3% of the Brazilian municipalities) declared that this service was administered by the first lady. Among them, 47.4% had at least higher education, mainly in the following careers: 194 pedagogues, 45 social assistants, 43 business administrators and 42 lawyers. In the municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants, the first lady was the reference person in charge of social assistance in 17.5% of the cases. In the Central West, 51.9% of the municipalities were in a similar situation. In the North, Roraima had the same occurrence in 73.3% of the municipalities.

 

In the country, most managers had completed higher education, both in (52.1%) and in 2009 (58.9%). The highlight in the region was the Southeast, where the proportion of managers with complete higher education reached 69.1% in 2009.

 

Between 2005 and 2009, employment in the sector increased 30.7%

 

In 2009, 5,686,393 persons were employed in the direct and indirect administration of municipalities. In the field of social assistance, there were 182,436 servants (only 3.2% of the employed personnel). In absolute figures, there was increase of 30.7% in employment in the sector between 2005 and 2009. At the same time, the participation of such workers in the group of servants decreased 1.9%.

 

Most of the personnel were permanent civil servants, followed by those without a permanent position in civil service, the ones in commissioned positions, those under the CLT employment system (Brazilian Consolidation of Labor Laws) and also the interns. The biggest increase (73.1) occurred among those without a permanent position in civil service, who amounted to 34, 957 persons in 2005 (25.1% of the persons in the sector) and 60,514 persons (33.2%) in 2009. As for the participation of CLT workers and of interns, there was decrease between the two periods, by 8.5% and 3.8% of the total, respectively.

 

In educational terms, there was increase of the level of schooling of persons employed in social assistance between 2005 and 2009. Considering least educated persons, for example, without instruction or having only elementary education, there has been decrease of 5.8% in the period.

 

Only two municipalities did not have a legal device on social assistance

 

In 2009, 98.3% of the Brazilian municipalities declared to have more than one legal device about the topic. On the other hand, in municipalities where the group of norms and helping rules was indeed put into effect by other legal device than the Municipal Department Law, this proportion decreased from 2.8% in 2005 to 1.5% in 2009. Only two municipalities declared not to have a legal device regarding social assistance. 

 

The Municipal Council of Social Assistance and the Municipal Fund of Social Assistance were the most often present entities among those ruled by a legal device. Although there have been decreases in the proportion of municipalities with projects, programs and actions ruled by a legal device, such indexes were still high: 75.4% in 2005 and 70.3% in 2009. The Northeast and Central West were the exception, presenting decreases in relation to the proportion of municipalities which made Social Assistance Policies legal: 54.9% and 56.0%, respectively.

 

Existence of a Municipal Plan decreases between average cities

 

The Municipal Plan of Social Assistance is part of the Unified Social Assistance System (Suas) and of its participation in the Basic Operating Norms (NOB/Suas), established in 2005, after the establishment of public precedence in the management of social assistance politics and the universalization of the right to social protection.

 

Between 2005 and 2009, there was slight increase of the group of municipalities which implemented this device, having changed from 91.5% to 93.1%.

 

This increase, however, was not uniform: municipalities with up to 20 thousand inhabitants and more than 500 thousand inhabitants presented increase; among those in the other classes of size, there was decrease. The results for 2009 present a scenario of social inequality already observed in 2005: in that year, municipalities which had implemented the Municipal Plan of Social Assistance recorded their lowest levels in the North Region (87.1%), having declined a little more in 2009 (86.2%).

 

Over 99% of the municipalities had a Municipal Council for Social Assistance

 

Almost all the Brazilian municipalities (99.3%) had a Municipal council for Social Assistance. In 2005, they made up 98.8%. The only class of population size facing decrease was 20,001 to 50 thousand inhabitants, from 99.5%, in 2005, to 99.2%, in 2009.

 

In relation to the formation of councils, there was increase of the number of non-parity ones. However, in 58% they were the major representatives of society in 2009, considering the decrease in the proportion of municipalities with boards of directors (from 94.8% in 2005 to 91.6% in 2009).

 

One third of the municipalities did not have a Managing Committee of Family Grant Program

 

In 2005, the existence of a Zero Hunger Committee was investigated. In 2009, another survey approached the Managing Committee of the Family Grant Program. About the existence of a Family Grant Committee, between 2005 and 2009 there was decrease of the proportion of municipalities with this device, with a change from 2,038 to 786.

 

For the Family Grant Program 67.6% of the municipalities reported the existence of a managing committee. The existence of such device was directly proportional to the population size: the higher the population range, the bigger the proportion of municipalities with a committee (61.7% of the municipalities with a population of up to 5,000 inhabitants, a percentage which reached 87.5% between the municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants.

 

87.3% of the municipalities received co-funding benefits from the State or Federal Government

 

In 2009, 97.7% of the municipalities had a Municipal Assistance Fund, of which 91.4% were formed by public budget unit. In 47.6% of the municipalities, the ordering of fund expenses was a duty for the mayor; in 42.6% of the secretary or technician specialized in the area and, in 7.5%, of the secretary or technician of another area.

 

The bigger ranges of income of the population the bigger the proportion of municipalities with a Municipal Assistance Fund as public budget unit. In relation to the ordering of fund expenses, the opposite took place: the bigger the population, the smaller the proportion of municipalities where the mayor was in charge of it. In 2005, the South Region presented the biggest proportion of municipalities with the Fund (94.3%), followed by the Southeast and Northeast (both with 92.4%). In 2009, the Southeast (98.7%), the Northeast (97.8%) and Central West e (97.6%) surpassed the South (97.0%).

 

In 2009, 4,861 (87.3%) of the municipalities declared to receive state or federal co-funding for the function of social assistance. Out of these, 97.6% received federal co-funding and 44.0%, state co-funding. This proportion increases gradually until it reaches 100.0%, in the municipalities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants. Concerning federal co-funding, this type reached the proportion of 100% of the municipalities with a population above 50 thousand inhabitants.

 

The Southeast (66.6%) was the region which presented the biggest proportion of municipalities with state co-funding, followed by the Central West (50.6%), whereas the North Region (19.1%) presented the lowest proportion. The state of São Paulo recorded a proportion of 94% of municipalities covered in this segment; differently from Minas Gerais (with only 20.6%). Without any state funding featured the states of Alagoas, Acre and Rondônia.

 

Number of municipalities with laws directed at agreements and partnerships decreases

 

In 2005, 1,352 (24.3%) of the municipalities informed to have a specific legal device directed at agreements and partnerships in the field of social assistance, a proportion which fell in 2009 (20.7%). Such decrease was widespread in municipalities with up to 500 thousand inhabitants 16.5%) and the biggest decrease occurred among those with 100,001 to 500 thousand inhabitants. In the municipalities with over 500 thousand inhabitants, the proportion was stable (40.0% both in 2005 and in 2009).

 

However, the lack of legal specific regulation did not stop city governments from developing programs, projects and services in the Field of social assistance. In 2009, in 61.1% of the municipalities the city government signed an agreement and, in 50.2%, transferring resources. These proportions were above those of municipalities where there was a specific regulation related to this issue.

 

Among the city governments which received support from agreements, 3, 211 resulted from agreements signed between public departments or entities and 402, with NGOs. In 2,741 of them, there was reception of financial resources, and in 563 there was teaching material. The behavior was similar in the case of transfer: among the city governments which transferred resources (2,792), 1,872 did it through partnerships with NGOs and 1,058, with departments and public entities.

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