• Submitted by: manso
• International
• 11 / 03 / 2010

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By Ana Luisa Brown.  Brazilian President-elect Dilma Rousseff says she plans to overhaul the Bolsa Familia social assistance program, and reiterated that her main goal is to eradicate abject poverty.

Rousseff made her comments on the social assistance program in an interview with TV Brazil. She initiated the program while she was the chief minister of the ministerial Cabinet of President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.

Rousseff now proposes making changes to ensure that the resources given to the poorest families do not have inflationary losses but instead real gain; those families receive monthly cash assistance with the condition that the children attend school and the head of household learns a trade to support the household.

In her interview on the need to revise the 2011 federal budget to make these changes, the president-elect said the budget is the main framework, but is always possible to obtain more money, depending on priorities.

At another point, Rousseff reiterated that the eradication of poverty would be the main goal of her administration, which takes office on January 1, 2011 and will conclude on December 31, 2014.

Regarding the makeup of her government team, she stated her interest in increasing women's participation, not under a quota system but based on women's competence for those posts. She also mentioned the possibility of keeping some of the current ministers.

Rousseff was elected the first woman president in Brazilian history in Sunday's runoff, with 56.05 percent of the vote.

Prensa Latina Translation Staff