The Head of Reference Centers for Social Assistance in Recife defends the importance of using a standardized chart in the social protection system
Brasilia, July 1 2015 – After adopting the Unified Social Assistance System (Suas) Chart, Recife has improved the quality of care of social assistance in Brazil (read the article here). According to Andrezza Sandrelly, Head of the Social Assistance Reference Centers (Cras) Division in Recife, the use of standardized tools allows us to gauge social vulnerability and helps policy managers in charge of social protection devise strategies to overcome extreme poverty.
“Well-organized data transforms our discussions and has a positive impact on these families’ perspectives for a different future,” says Andrezza. It highlights the role of Brazil’s social protection system as a public policy – an example to be considered at the international level.
World Without Poverty: What is the Suas Chart?
Andrezza Sandrelly: The Suas Chart is a tool created to better organize family assistance actions undertaken by Cras and Creas. It enables us to compile information about users through data on vulnerabilities, risks, violations, etc., and allows us to input information about follow-up interventions. The data reflects the improvement of the work process and, consequently, the quality of the professional services provided to Suas users and families. Data standardization makes things easier for technical staff members and families alike – even if the staff roster changes, families’ historical records are preserved. It is a way of maintaining historical family records with no risk of data loss.
WWP: What is the difference between the Suas Chart and the Unified Registry (CadÚnico)?
AS: The main difference lies in their objectives. The Suas Chart is not a registry, but rather a data record about the assistance provided to families monitored by Cras – families who are vulnerable due to poverty and have strong or weakened community and family ties – and by Creas – those with weakened family ties and who are victims of rights violations. It includes general information about the families – such as household type, family composition and income – as well as data about technical interventions and the discontinuation of services – basically, it provides a full overview of the families and the evolution of the assistance rendered to them.
CadÚnico, on the other hand, is a registry used for identifying low-income families at the federal level, making it much larger in scope than the Chart – it includes households with monthly per capita incomes of up to half the minimum wage or total monthly incomes up to three times the minimum wage. The purpose of CadÚnico as a general registry at the federal level is to elucidate the socioeconomic situation of families and provide access to social programs at the three levels of government. It is also a database that may be used to guide investments in public policy and provide a general snapshot of reality in Brazil.
Both seek to advance the Unified Social Assistance System and there have been times when they have converged – general data from CadÚnico [Home, family composition, income, etc.] can be extracted and used in the Suas Chart and, for instance, CadÚnico data could be used to assess the most vulnerable neighborhoods and deploy Cras units.
WWP: The Suas Chart is a new tool. How were records kept about the social work carried out in your municipality before the advent of the unified Chart? What were the main changes after implementation? What are the main advantages of working with systematized information and data standardization?
AS: Data used to be collected in Recife though the Family Information Form (FIF), created by the Cras and social assistance surveillance teams. This document contained general information about the families and the evolution of the assistance provided to them. It was, however, a very small and restrictive document. The Chart has improved the quality of the information, contributed to the discussion on the quality of monitoring and increased the number of monitoring assessments and CadÚnico consultations.
Data standardization has improved the quality of actions and initiatives and the visibility of skills by municipal managers. It has also led to better investments in services and a qualitative improvement in family assistance as a result of careful data input.
WWP: Recife was one of the first municipalities to adopt the Chart. What steps did you go through to make the Chart a routine part of social work? What was the main challenge in implementing the Chart? What are the teams testing at the moment?
AS: Nowadays, all Cras in Recife use the Suas Chart with families assisted by Paif [Service of Protection and Integral Support to the Family]. The first steps were internal management discussions with the Basic Social Protection Department, the Cras Division and the Cras Coordination. Once we had fully grasped the relevance of the document internally, we decided, from that moment [August 2013] onwards, to gradually replace the FIF with the Chart for assisted families. In the case of new families, the Chart would be used form the very beginning. The Cras coordination departments worked with the teams to make sure everyone had a clear understanding of the importance of Suas.
Meanwhile, we faced resistance from some of the staff because the document was overly long, which would make users impatient. We worked to raise awareness among these staff members. The MDS [Ministry of Social Development and Fight against Hunger] subsequently held a training session led by a Cras staffer on how to use the Chart. We then organized a training session with Cras staff members to answer their questions, led by the staff member from the previous session as a trainer-of-trainers. The training was horizontal in nature – from one technical staff member to another – thus facilitating Chart uptake by Cras.
Staff training in Recife: “The training was horizontal in nature – from one technical staff member to another – thus facilitating Chart uptake by Cras”, say Andrezza Sandrelly. Photo: Cras Recife
The challenge in implementation lies in the sheer number of families assisted by a limited number of professionals, as the Chart requires more information, higher quality and more monitoring time. The current family / staff member ratio is not enough. I believe we have to increase our investment in the quality of information, so those using it can suggest changes in the document itself.
WWP: What can managers in other countries learn from the experience in Recife?
AS: Foreign managers can learn about the social protection system in Brazil and how assistance is part of a public policy executed with tools such as the Suas Chart. In adopting the Chart, Recife was able to gauge the number of socially vulnerable families assisted by Cras and Creas through Paif. It is also able to empower families by ensuring their rights are upheld. By drawing on Chart data, managers can gauge social vulnerability in Brazil and devise strategies to overcome extreme poverty. Well-organized data transforms our discussions and has a positive impact on these families’ perspectives for a different future.