{"id":6604,"date":"2026-05-29T09:50:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T12:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renovabr.org\/?p=6604"},"modified":"2026-05-29T09:50:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T12:50:44","slug":"desenvolvimento-social-por-que-dados-e-tecnologia-sao-centrais-para-enfrentar-desigualdades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.renovabr.org\/en\/desenvolvimento-social-por-que-dados-e-tecnologia-sao-centrais-para-enfrentar-desigualdades\/","title":{"rendered":"Social development: why data and technology are central to tackling inequalities\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cEntering politics to transform people\u2019s lives\u201d is a common phrase that resonates among new leaders entering politics or public administration. Many carry with them the desire to confront historical inequalities and expand the reach of existing social policies. The challenge, however, arises when this commitment encounters the complexity of the issue \u2013 how to transform intention into concrete public policy?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Laura Muller Machado, an economist and professor at Insper, Brazil is not starting from scratch in this task. The history of lessons learned and experiences accumulated in combating poverty is important in a scenario where new leaders are emerging in Brazilian politics. &quot;To combat poverty in Brazil, there&#039;s a very positive aspect, which is the experience we have in this,&quot; she points out.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She recalls that, in 2010, the UN (United Nations) set a goal for countries to halve their respective poverty levels. Brazil, at the time, achieved the goal and went a little further, with a reduction of one-third. The experience created a kind of social technology developed over the years and, according to the expert, it is on this basis that the country can move forward.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to data from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipea.gov.br\/portal\/categorias\/45-todas-as-noticias\/noticias\/15577-ipea-atualiza-estimativas-de-familias-em-situacao-de-pobreza-e-baixa-renda-no-pais\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IPEA (Institute for Applied Economic Research)<\/a>Currently, around 20.6 million Brazilians live in extreme poverty, with less than R$450 per month. &quot;It&#039;s necessary to incorporate this robust technology that we have, what&#039;s new in the last 20 years,&quot; he explains.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Data as a tool to address inequalities&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>While the development of social policies previously depended on limited information about Brazilian families, the scenario is different today. Laura explains that the country has mechanisms capable of providing a more detailed picture of inequalities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She points out that it no longer makes sense to formulate social policies solely based on the declared income of a family member. It is necessary to understand multiple dimensions of the reality of these households in order to understand which policies are most appropriate for each context.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&quot;The challenge for the next generation of managers and political leaders will be precisely to make better use of the information that already exists,&quot; explains Laura.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The challenges for the next generation of leaders.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe challenge of using data to address inequalities is halfway there in Brazil,\u201d she points out. In this context, Laura highlights the role of the Unified Registry as one of the main tools for understanding the reality of families in vulnerable situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible database, with over 100 questions that allows us to understand more about the reality of these families. But what we do is, out of those 100 pieces of information about that family, we only use one,\u201d explains Muller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, the expert advocates incorporating what she calls &quot;timely information&quot;\u2014indicators that capture rapid changes in families&#039; lives, such as variable internet expenses, for example.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&quot;Typically, more vulnerable families experience large variations in income, and understanding these issues can lead to a greater understanding of behavior,&quot; she comments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Laura, combating poverty more effectively requires a combination of technique, information, and better targeting of benefits.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this context, she states that one of the mistakes new leaders need to avoid is treating the fight against inequality merely as a matter of political intention, without addressing the necessary technical choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&quot;For new leaders entering politics and for those working to combat inequalities, it is necessary to decide, from both a technical and political standpoint, to act proactively on this agenda, because we have no shortage of resources,&quot; he concludes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAddressing poverty also involves addressing a reallocation of resources, without necessarily reducing them,\u201d she points out. According to her, it is a relatively simple movement from a technical point of view, but politically, it runs into diverse expectations, disputes, and interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Photo: Rushfy<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cEntrar na pol\u00edtica para transformar a vida das pessoas\u201d \u00e9 uma frase comum que reverbera entre novas lideran\u00e7as que chegam \u00e0 pol\u00edtica ou \u00e0 gest\u00e3o p\u00fablica. Muitas carregam consigo o desejo de enfrentar desigualdades hist\u00f3ricas e ampliar o alcance de pol\u00edticas sociais j\u00e1 existentes. O desafio, no entanto, surge quando esse compromisso encontra a complexidade [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1955,7],"tags":[1988,1902,1897],"class_list":["post-6604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conscientizacao","category-noticias","tag-eleicoes-2026","tag-lideranca-politica","tag-renovabr"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}