For over two decades, Brazil’s Bolsa Família Program has stood as a global model for reducing poverty and promoting inclusion. Reaching nearly 20 million families, about 50 million people, the program provides direct support that strengthens income security, education, and health. With transfers surpassing US$ 2 billion each month, Bolsa Família reflects Brazil’s sustained commitment to social protection. As it continues to evolve and connect with broader social policies, the program remains a powerful example of how a large-scale conditional cash transfer program can enhance food security, break intergenerational poverty cycles, and help lift a nation out of hunger.

About the event

Join us for a special webinar celebrating over twenty years of the Bolsa Família Program, Brazil’s flagship initiative in the fight against poverty and hunger. Caroline Paranayba, Director of the Department of Benefits at the National Secretariat for Citizenship Income (SENARC), and Eliane Aquino, Secretary of the National Secretariat for Citizenship Income will reflect on the program’s evolution, its role in reducing poverty and hunger, and the lessons it offers for the future of social protection systems.

This event is open to the public, particularly government officials, technical staff, and representatives from social development, social assistance, and planning ministries, and other relevant government organizations interested in learning more about social protection policies in Brazil.

The event will be in Portuguese with simultaneous interpretations to English, French, and Spanish.

If you have any questions, please contact us at: splac@worldbank.org.

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Eliane Aquino Custodio

National Secretary of Citizenship Income
 

Eliane Aquino is a former photojournalist with extensive experience in social inclusion initiatives in Sergipe. She led the NGO Missão Criança Aracaju (2001–2006), coordinated interdisciplinary government projects, and served as State Secretary for Inclusion, Assistance, and Social Development (2010–2015). Eliane was Vice-Mayor and Municipal Secretary of Social Assistance in Aracaju, and later Vice-Governor of Sergipe (2019–2022). Since 2021, she has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Perseu Abramo Foundation.


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Caroline Paranayba

Director of the Benefits Department of the National Secretariat of Citizenship Income
 

Caroline Augusta Paranayba Evangelista graduated with a degree in International Relations in 2008 and has completed several courses related to public policy and project management. Since 2017, she has served as Director of the Benefits Department at the National Secretariat of Citizenship Income (SENARC/MDS), where she oversees the administration and management of benefits for the Bolsa Família Program (PBF).
 

 

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Colin Andrews

Global Lead for Social Safety Nets, Social Protection and Labor Global Unit, World Bank
 

Colin is the Global Lead for Social Safety Nets at the World Bank. He has global and country experience in design and implementation of large-scale social protection and jobs national programs. He has worked extensively on the design and evaluation of different social assistance instruments (cash, in-kind and economic inclusion), service delivery and sector-related links agriculture, education, and health. He brings country level experience across Africa and South Asia and was most recently the Program Manager for the Partnership for Economic Inclusion. He has previously worked with the UN, Concern Worldwide and European Commission.


 

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Tiago Falcão

Senior Social Protection and Labor Specialist at the World Bank in Brazil
 

Tiago Falcão joined the World Bank in 2020, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, working to support several national and subnational World Bank projects in Brazil and other countries in the region. For 25 years he worked for the Brazilian government in positions such as: Secretary of Management of the Ministry of Planning in 2010, and Social Advisor at the Civil Cabinet (from 2004 to 2008). He also worked at the Secretariat of Human Rights, and at the Ministries of Social Insurance, Pensions and Labor. In 2011 he was named head of the National Secretariat in charge of the Bolsa Familia Program. In 2012, he assumed the mission of coordinating the ambitious Brazil without Extreme Poverty Plan. In 2016 he became for the second time National Secretary of Citizenship Income. Under his leadership, the Bolsa Familia Program reached 14 million families and was recognized as one of the best targeted social assistance programs in the world. Tiago holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Universidade de Brasília (UnB) and a master’s degree in Economic Development from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) and is a former Pacific Leadership Fellow at School of Global Policy and Strategy - UC San Diego.
 

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