The role of woman in promoting and expanding capabilities of childhood: the case of Best Early Childhood Program in Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

This paper aims to show the importance of the role of the agency aspect of women in promoting the education and well-being of children and in the reduction of poverty. For this purpose, it is employed as a background the Capability Approach, developed by Amartya Sen, to analyze the Best Early Childhood Program (MIP) of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, launched in 2003, reflecting on its possible contributions to the expansion of human capabilities, especially with regard the role of women in the promotion and expansion of capabilities in childhood. The PIM has the community and family as its main foundations, especially the mothers as key agents in the promotion of development and health of children. The argument of this paper is that the program can contribute to the expansion of human capabilities and to poverty reduction, as argued by the Capability Approach. Classificação JEL: I00; I31 Artigo recebido em nov. 2012 e aceito para publicação em out. 2013.