Impacts of Bolsa Familia Program on multidimensional poverty

Usually conditional cash transfer programs (CCTs) are interpreted as passive policies dealing with income maintenance, and needs fulfilment, however, recently some part of the literature has suggested a more active role for them. The aim of this article is to investigate the inclusive role of human rights-based CCTs, using Bolsa Familia (BF) policy as a case study. Specifically, I assess the effect of this program on human development as a proxi of achievements in fundamental capabilities and human rights. I choose this type of development because, compared to economic development, it puts at the centre of the analysis human life quality. In order to infer some causal relation between BF and human development I use the systematic review approach, based on natural, quasi-experimental, counterfactual, and longitudinal analysis. The main findings suggest some positive effect of the BF and human development. Hence, BF can be interpreted as human rights-oriented policy, which is able to create social inclusion in fundamental domains to some extent. The main policy implications deal with integrating BF with the education, and the health system as well as with complementary interventions more tightly, to ameliorate the advancement in human rights level.