From March 2020 to November 2021, more than 5.6 million basic food baskets and 945,000 hygiene kits were distributed by Belo Horizonte City Hall to families of students enrolled in the municipal education network, needy or socially vulnerable. As of December 2021, the delivery of baskets was replaced by the payment of Auxílio Belo Horizonte.

Around 275,000 Belo Horizonte families have accessed the benefit monthly since the start of the offer. Municipal Secretary of Social Assistance, Food Security and Citizenship, Maíra Colares highlights that the benefit was essential to guarantee food security to thousands of families in situations of social and economic vulnerability.

National Recognition

The operationalization of the distribution of basic food baskets in the municipality was nationally recognized in the 25th edition of the Innovation in the Public Sector Contest. The City Hall presented an agile, integrated and simplified response capacity for access to food security during the pandemic. In an innovative way, it developed a system that served the population in a decentralized and georeferenced way, without the need for prior registration and avoiding agglomeration. Technology and intersectoral work were essential to ensure dignified care for the population that needed support with basic food baskets and hygiene kits.

Belo Horizonte City Hall took first place in the category “Innovation in services or public policies in the state, Federal District and municipal Executive Powers”.