Microcrédito e combate à pobreza: uma análise da experiência do Programa Amazônia Florescer

Abstract

The objective of this dissertation is to understand the possibilities and limits of productive microcredit oriented as an instrument to improve the conditions of access to credit for popular entrepreneurs and help to overcome poverty, given the relationship between credit and the right to development. The analysis are based on Amartya Sen’s theory, for whom development requires remove the sources of deprivation of liberty, poverty and the lack of economic opportunities and systematic social destitution. In this sense, it is argued that credit is not only important for entrepreneurs, but also for the achievement of their borrowers as subjects and, therefore, for the social and productive inclusion of the popular entrepreneurs, the target audience of the microcredit policy. A case study on the Amazônia Florescer Urbano (AFU) Program of the Banco da Amazônia was carried out, and beneficiaries of the Castanhal (PA) unit were interviewed. The results show that the program has been an important access to credit for many popular entrepreneurs who had never experienced the use of services and products offered by traditional financial institutions in the country. There have also been a number of important positive changes following this financing, both for business and for the living conditions of its beneficiaries, despite some limits for the activity to work to overcome poverty.