Over the last two decades, Brazil has made steady progress in creating economic opportunities for vulnerable rural populations, coordinating public policies that integrate food security, income generation, and the strengthening of livelihoods in rural areas. Productive development and water access programs, such as production cisterns, are part of a broader strategy that connects with initiatives such as the Food Acquisition Program, Technical Assistance and Rural Extension, and other instruments of the National Food and Nutrition Security System. Between 2012 and 2025, more than 350,000 families benefited from Rural Development, 78% of which were headed by women. This integrated approach has made it possible to expand productive capacities, strengthen the autonomy of rural families, and promote sustainable pathways to overcome vulnerability.

About the event

Join us for a special webinar on Brazil's journey toward rural productive inclusion and food security, featuring Lilian dos Santos Rahal, National Secretary of Food and Nutritional Security (SESAN), and Camile Marques Sahb, Director of Promotion of Rural Productive Inclusion and Access to Water at SESAN. They will share strategies, innovations, and lessons learned in the articulation of public policies that strengthen family farming, promote access to water, and expand social protection, with a special emphasis on women's leadership and on serving Indigenous peoples, quilombolas, and traditional communities.

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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Lilian Rahal
 

National Secretary for Food and Nutrition Security
 

Lilian dos Santos Rahal is the National Secretary for Food and Nutrition Security at Brazil’s Ministry of Social Development and Assistance, Family, and Fight Against Hunger. She is a federal public servant specializing in public policy and government management, with academic training in social sciences and a master’s degree in sociology. Lilian has served in leadership roles across Brazil’s food security, family agriculture, and social development portfolios, including positions as secretary, assistant secretary, and chief of staff. She has contributed to policy development across ministries and currently works with the Administrative Council for Economic Development, with responsibilities in planning and strategic coordination. Her career reflects a longstanding commitment to strengthening nutrition, social inclusion, and evidence-based policymaking.


 

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Camile Sahb


Director of the Department for the Promotion of Rural Productive Inclusion and Water Access


Camile Marques Sahb is a career public manager (EPPGG) and the Director of the Department for the Promotion of Rural Productive Inclusion and Water Access within Brazil’s National Secretariat for Food and Nutritional Security. She brings extensive experience at the intersection of social protection and productive inclusion. From 2007 to 2010, she served as a Director at the Ministry of Social Development and the Fight Against Hunger, overseeing the monitoring of education and health conditionalities for the Bolsa Família Program—work that strengthened program performance and outcomes for vulnerable families. She later led core institutional functions at the National School of Public Administration (ENAP) between 2016 and 2019, managing contracts, procurement, HR, logistics, planning and budgeting, and IT. Camile holds a Master’s degree in Social Policy from the University of Brasília (2007) and completed the Government Management and Public Policy Formation Program at ENAP (2002).
 

 

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William Wiseman 


Practice Manager for Social Protection and Labor at the World Bank in Latin America


William Wiseman is the Practice Manager for Social Protection and Labor in the Latin America and Caribbean Region of the World Bank. Prior to this he worked in Turkey and then Mexico as the Bank’s Program Leader for Human Development covering Health, Education and Social Protection. Will started his career working in Africa and Latin America focusing on the development of social protection programs and systems. He holds an Msc. in Economics from the London School of Economics and a M.A. in Economics from the University of Edinburgh.
 

 

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Tiago Falcão


Senior Social Protection Specialist and former Secretary of Bolsa Familia and Brasil Sem Miséria Programs, World Bank


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.

 

Date: March 18, 2026

Time: 09:00 AM - 10:30 AM ET

Virtual:

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