JAIR BOLSONARO STEALS HEADLINES, BUT SOMETHING AMAZING JUST HAPPENED IN BRAZILIAN POLITICS
22 January 2019
Brazil has undergone seismic political change. The headlines are being dominated – quite understandably – by the new Government, led by President Jair Bolsonaro.
As a result, a piece of legislation that has become law as of 4 January 2019, one that will improve the lives of millions of ordinary Brazilians, has largely gone unnoticed. Bolsonaro approved a provisional measure from the former President Michel Temer to regulate endowment funds.
Endowment funds use capital specifically for causes of public interest. By nature, they are intended to help the most vulnerable and protect the heritage of our societies. But why, you may be asking, do they matter so much? Why are these endowment funds important for Brazil? Well firstly, as a result of this new law, we estimate that US$1.2 billion could be pumped immediately into social schemes such as bringing children out of poverty. Or perhaps to fund an exceptional cultural or educational institution such as the Brazilian National Museum, which was destroyed by a huge fire in September 2018. Or endowment funds could help to defend environmental habitats and tribes indigenous to the Amazon, for example.
Please click here to read the full article by Paula Fabiani, Chief Executive of CAF's Brazilian partner IDIS, which featured in Alliance Magazine. Paula discusses the huge potential of endowment funds to improve the lives of millions of Brazilians, and why this is such a crucial victory for civil society institutions in Brazil.