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Ethnic decharacterization is a manifestation of conditioning to a new lifestyle, in which multiple intercultural migrations live daily; adapting their cultural identity and adopting social behaviors. The Higher Education institutions of the state of Nuevo León that provides academic service to ethnic communities from Mexico, have the responsibility of promoting educational, social and cultural inclusion within their university society, which allows them to enhance the cultural wealth and pride that distinguishes the country; identity, culture and diversity of native languages. In this framework, the objective arises of knowing the perception of the intercultural community of the university to be analyzed, in the identity, linguistic and traditional sphere. The study was carried out in a Higher Education institution located in the city of Monterrey, Mexico, where eighty-five students from the country's native community participated. It is established that educational centers must design and implement academic and cultural strategies that promote the reduction of social segregation among the university community, thus fostering admiration and reverence for the cultural heritage that distinguishes the Mexican territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the contributions to social programs for poverty in non-governmental organizations. Topics discussed include that how Latin American country like Chile has experienced a boom in social programs aimed at poverty reduction; identify a series of barriers in program assessment; and the improvements in social work aimed at poverty.

Randomized assessments of the economic impact of social programs are meager in Latin America and in public health in general. Objective: To characterize studies on the randomized evaluation of the impact of social programs against poverty in the work of Esther Duflo. Methodology: Systematic review, in which we applied the PRISMA guide to nine databases. We ensured the reproducibility of the selection of studies and information extraction. We carried out a qualitative synthesis of the results by describing the populations, interventions, controls, and the evaluated outcomes. Results: We analyzed 34 randomized evaluations of social programs against poverty, 41.2% in education; 20.6% in health; 8.8% on micro-credit; 8.8% in political participation of women and 5.9% in direct transfers to poor populations. The remaining evaluated the use of fertilizers, police watchdogs, obtaining employment and control of environmental emissions in industrial plants. Conclusion: The best impacts were reported in education and health, which is related to human capital, labor force participation and effective poverty reduction. This is a significant support to evidence based public health and allows us to identify lines of public policy to reduce poverty, combat social inequities and improve the use of economic resources for public management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to evaluate the Ceará State Occupational Health Reference Center (CEREST) based on the beliefs of union representatives and users. For this purpose a qualitative descriptive-exploratory applied field research was conducted. Participants included three representatives of trade unions and five users who answered a semi-structured interview. The information was submitted to Bardin content analysis and analysis of textual data with support of the software Interface de R pour les Analyses Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires (IRAMUTEQ). The results showed barriers in the management and lack of clarity of CEREST's functions as well as lack of professionals. We conclude that there is a gap between prescribed and real work due to political obstacles and management problems that end up distancing CEREST's actions from its goal of prevention and promotion of workers' health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses politics at the local level through the perspective of a neighbourhood leader in Mexico City. Drawing on the comprehensive sociology approach and the study of a specific career trajectory, it analyses how a neighbourhood leader works to construct beneficiaries for neighbourhood level social programs and broker resources that would not be leveraged without their work. The analysis presents an alternative vision to other analysts who have emphasized the capture of public funds for electoral purposes by neighbourhood leaders. The objective is to invite researchers to rethink the role of the local political "broker" or intermediary and to consider the complexity of this role. The moral and political dilemmas that condition the behaviour of such leaders are also considered. From here, without making a moral judgement, we consider how political brokerage and the activities that it involves combine instrumental considerations with moral and ideological dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the role that Programa Bolsa Família plays in the food security of the families in the Marajó Territory, located in the State of Pará, Brazil. Using a qualitative approach, we sought an understanding of the benefit of the program's influence in food, economic and social practices. A positive impact was observed in access to food and standard of living, providing well-being, better quality of life and development of credit practices, necessary to combat food insecurity in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to describe the evaluation of mothers who receive a Family Grand (Bolsa Família) living in a riverside community in the Amazon on participation in the program. Therefore a qualitative study was conducted with four mothers, residents of the island Combú belonging to the municipality of Belém (PA), who participated in the Family Grand program. A sociodemographic questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were applied to understand how the mothers perceived their life before and after the program. The results showed perceptual changes after the insertion in the program in the sense that the mothers no longer perceived themselves as highly dependent on their husband's income, while the expenditures were realized in a more planned way and the occurrence of situations in which there was no food ceased to exist. The program has a concrete importance in the economic organization of families, providing greater sense of security and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social programs have been recruiting young residents of social outskirts, who begin to act professionally through cultural policies - these are the social educators. Based on a research that questioned work configurations in this particular context, this text introduces categories such as recognition and psychosocial mobility, as well as a historical-political discussion on social education. The research used life stories, participant observation and two interviews with educators of the Fica Vivo! Program in Minas Gerais. The categorization in cross-examination was used for the analysis. We realize that the segregation processes which permeate the relationship between city and otherness are present in this scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to understand how the student assistance has been given in the IFES campus in Santa Teresa, Espírito Santo. To achieve this overall goal, it was used as evaluative research methodology, a type of qualitative research comprising a systematic application of research procedures to access the conception, design, implementation and utility of the social programs assistance occurring in IFES. The research subjects are students of the technical course and graduation, that are the beneficiaries of the Student Assistance programs. To get the data, questionnaires with open questions were applied to the students. Data analysis was performed with the evaluative research as perspective. As a result of this study, we can highlight the effectiveness of student assistance programs in the IFES campus of Santa Teresa, given that most of the answers did not represent weakness. However, the voice of the beneficiaries of this program brought to light the importance of disclosing more for the community about the programs available to the public, since most of the students appointed as fragility the internal actions of the student assistance for the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mexico's adoption of an open-economy model to reorient its economic policy precipitated disparate growth and internal wealth distribution, as the control of the macroeconomic environment led to lagging social welfare indicators and increased poverty and inequality. Although Mexican social policy has sought to compensate for the deteriorating living conditions of its population, the scope of this policy is insufficient, insofar as the economic policy in place imposes limits that divert public spending towards certain target groups, leaving a broad swath of the people vulnerable. The data demonstrates that this targeted social policy has proved unable to reverse the disparities derived from the type of economic policy in effect. If we do not correct the factors that govern the current model, we risk gradually undermining the living conditions of the population and even national security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article intends, from the analysis of the structure of government established under the liberal model, to identify the distance of discretionary administrative decisions from the demands of a plural society. Placing the citizen at the heart of these decisions, as effective authors of their rights, through a participatory democracy, in which the individual acts not only in the process of determining the public budget, but the decisions of the executive branch when setting criteria for the execution of the budget, it is fundamental to confer legitimacy on government decisions. The analysis of the establishments of preference criteria for the distribution of housing created by the Federal District, Brazil, will demonstrate how citizen effective participation may contribute to establishing criteria more suited to the demands of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of the 2010 Presidential elections shows a divided electorate by regions, following the Brazilian map of inequality. The main campaign issues were the continuity of President Lula and the social programs. This article investigates the relationship between social programs and voter decision, and the role of region as a variable of explanation. The analysis is based on the CSES-ESEB2010 data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the Chávez government, the incorporation and participation of popular sectors, which is the essence of ‘social-based democracy’, has been quantitatively and qualitatively different from socialist government and welfare-state strategies of the past. Venezuela's social-based democracy focuses on education, job skills, ideology, transformation of values and empowerment, achievements which Chavista leaders consider to be imperatives for socialist development. However, Chavista social programmes have been undermined by institutional weakness, are sometimes not cost-effective, and are politicised. Conflicting views among the Chavistas on the role of the state hinge on the issue of whether initiatives from above in favour of social-based democracy represent a viable strategy for far-reaching change. The Venezuelan government's changing priorities after 2007 have detracted from the primacy of social programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The objective is to identify strategies for actions to reduce situations of vulnerability among young. This article presents results of a job carried out with youngsters in a social vulnerability condition at the city of Santo André, São Paulo, aiming to identify strategies towards social actions which can contribute for the reduction in their vulnerabities, using the resilience concept. Through a qualitative methodology, it was adopted a strategy of chatting groups, guided by subjects: 1) "project context and discussion about the resilience concept"; 2) "my current situation and my intentions"; 3) "my capacities and resources" 4) "to recover the strenght". We counted on 11 young people, between 15 and and 19 years old who were included in several kinds of Social Programs maintained by Santo André´s city hall. The discussions had been recorded in audio, transcribed and analyzed. This job was developed from November 30th up to December 02nd, 2007. The youngsters talked about their experiences on domestic violence, drugs, law conflict and familiar and social rejection, elaborating once more their own histories and realizing their overcoming potentialities, associating, at this moment, the resilience concept and the strengthening of their own competencies. Such strategy made possible the reflexion and exposition of their dreams and wishes as a real possibility. The chosen methodology allows more effectives approach and effective results with the target-group, and therefore it is promising to be used by social programs and actions focused on them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general purpose of this study was to present a model of meta-evaluation applied to the performance audit of the Brazilian Court of Audit. This consisted of meta-evaluating its procedures such as criteria, standards, validity, trustworthiness and its results. Auditing, evaluation and meta-evaluation were also conceptualized. The theoretical approach used was based on qualitative methods and their procedures: synthesis of analysis content, deductive grouping criteria from Joint Committee criteria and Qualitative Synthesis Studies. Meta-evaluation was defined as evaluation from other evaluation considering its aspects: methodology; subject selection, purpose, criteria and results analysis. Ten audits of government performance were analyzed. The results showed weakness of methods and techniques used to evaluate the program context and criteria related to applying audit methods and techniques. To conclude, other difficulties of the audit process were demonstrated and there are also suggestions on how to improve it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with an analysis of local power democratization influence on effectiveness of social programs. It was adopted a qualitative approach research strategy, through semi structured interviews with Health Family Program professionals in a Minas Gerais locality. Results show that, in general, civil society participation in local public arena is still restricted, besides formal mechanisms created to this. As result, there is a less effectiveness of social programs than would be expected in an initiative of this nature, which indicates the necessity of strengthening government and civil society connections in local arena, to improve government initiatives and to consolidate the citizenship and democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]