The Gender Affairs Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) participated in the Launch of the Interministerial Working Group for the elaboration of the National Care Policy of Brazil

We are facing a cascade of crises that exacerbate historical gaps and have led to setbacks in social indicators, threatening compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals. Latin America and the Caribbean is facing a development crisis, and it is necessary to act with a sense of urgency and think about transformative and bold changes that move the needles of development, such as the proposal of the care society. Placing care at the center of the reflections, design and implementation of public policies is essential to move towards a style of development based on equality and the sustainability of life. This transformation requires affirmative actions in the fiscal sphere, employment, productive, economic and social policies in the short, medium and long term.

This was one of the reflections shared by Lucía Scuro, Senior Social Affairs Officer of ECLAC’s Division of Gender Affairs, during her presentation at the launch event of the Interministerial Working Group for the preparation of the National Policy for Care of Brazil, organized by the Ministry of Women and the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Poverty of Brazil. During her intervention, Lucía Scuro also highlighted the importance of having more data and information on the organization and distribution of care in the countries of the region for the formulation of public policies.

The event featured a round table focused on the importance of public care policies for Brazil, followed by a session of presentations. During the opening of the event, José Wellington Barroso De Araujo Días, Minister of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger (MDS), stressed that care was a priority for the government and that it is part of the path to social justice . He celebrated the creation of the Interministerial Working Group that will design the next national care policy.

In her speech, the National Secretary for Care and Family of the MDS, Lais Abramo, presented the competencies of the GTI, including enabling a diagnosis on the social organization of care in Brazil, preparing a proposal for a National Care Policy and a National Plan for Intersectoral care and with citizen participation.

UN Women Representative in Brazil, Anastasia Divinskaya, congratulated the Brazilian government on the launch of the inter-ministerial working group, marking a new stage of development. She pointed out that care is an essential economic sector to increase growth dynamics, reduce gender inequalities and facilitate the integration of women in the labor market.

Carolina Miranda, an official of the National Secretary for Care and Family, highlighted some of the trends in the supply and demand of care in the country and presented data on the organization of care in Brazil, pointing out that women’s work days (paid work and unpaid) are 5.3 hours longer per week than men.

In their presentation on the construction of the Care Policy in Belém do Pará, Georgina Galvão, General Coordinator of the Banco Popular of Belém do Pará and Sandra Shirlei Valente Santana, General Director of the Pope John XXIII Foundation – Funpapa presented the See or Care project , a partnership between UN Women, the Municipality of Belém (PA) and the Pope John XIII Foundation (Funpapa), financed by Open Society Foundations, which aims to establish a pilot Municipal Care System in the municipality.

The Interministerial Working Group is coordinated by the Ministry of Social Development (MDS) and the Ministry of Women, with the participation of 15 other agencies of the federal administration in Brazil and will have the technical support and monitoring of ECLAC.