Evaluation of the Brazilian Family Grant Program: A Quasi-Experimental Study in the State of Rio de Janeiro

This study aimed to evaluate a program of income distribution in Brazil (Family Grant Program, FGP) using a quasi experiment in shantytowns in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. Questionnaires, which contained questions regarding the three main axes of the program, were personally administered to 281 program participants and 249 non-participants (control group) in either their homes or in public spaces of the shantytowns. The results of several statistical tests (t-test, correlation and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test) identified significant differences between the groups of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, which signal a positive influence of the FGP, including increases in the number of daily meals and family income. However, some conditionalities of the program are not being fulfilled.