Promoting Intersectoral Action to Address Chronic Poverty and Social Exclusion

This work explores ways policy can be designed to incentivize impoverished people to change their decision making. It proposes the retargeting of a federal apprenticeship program to 16- and 17-year-olds from low-income families who drop out of school and choose to go early into the job market in Brazil. The study focused on a large-scale intervention across multiple actors and sectors. A multiple-baseline design across settings was carried out with the intervention in 6 municipalities in 3 phases. The results show that (a) intersectoral arrangements increased the supply and demand of apprenticeship positions and (b) apprenticeship increased school attendance on average. The provision of social services could be improved through intersectoral coordination, leading to increased access to better paying jobs, increased school attendance, and improved school-to-work transition.