猫咪社区

Walking through the streets of Maric谩, Brazil, there is a sense that something is different about this city compared with others in the state of Rio de Janeiro. This seaside city is sparklingly clean; barely any trash is in sight, nor are people sleeping on the streets, compared with neighboring cities with trash mounds on street corners and people huddled in doorways. At night, families walk freely along freshly paved promenades and wood-decked viewpoints by the seafront. Maric谩 is by no means an affluent city in terms of luxury cars or housing, but compared with the other cities of similar size along the coast, a higher quality of life is plainly visible. 

Brazil is not usually associated with generous social programs. However, Maric谩, a small seaside city of 160,000 people, is making a tremendous impact on the lives of its citizens. Over the past nine years, various social programs have been instigated, especially a basic income program called Renda B谩sica de Cidadania, which is paid in a local social currency named mumbuca鈥攏amed after both a river that runs through Maric谩 and also one of the local Indigenous peoples. 

A basic income program consists of a regularly paid stipend of money given to all citizens of a community, regardless of income. Although discussed since the Enlightenment period by such prominent figures as Thomas Paine and the Marquis de Condorcet, only a handful of cities and provinces have piloted schemes based on a form of basic income worldwide, in places in the . Supporters of basic income recognize it as a fair way to redistribute funds to reduce growing inequality and simplify a convoluted welfare state. But the idea of unconditional cash payments funded by the state has not gone much further than successful small-scale pilot programs. 

Residents of Maric谩 who have lived in the city for at least three years and belong to a household with a monthly family income of up to 3,135 Brazilian reals (approximately $640 USD) and have signed up for the program currently receive 170 mumbucas a month. The mumbuca converts to reals at a ratio of 1-to-1, in a country where the poverty line is set at 178 reals per family per month. Indigenous residents receive 300 mumbucas per month.

Accounts in the alternative currency are held by Banco Mumbuca, a city-owned bank. 

The money can be accessed in the form of a card (there is no physical form of the currency), and residents can manage the money through the bank鈥檚 mobile phone app. The mumbuca is accepted within the city at approximately 3,000 establishments, such as hairdressers, grocers, and pharmacies. About in the alternative currency. 

The municipal community bank of Maric谩, Banco Mumbuca, opened in 2013 with a cash balance of 2 million reals ($410,000) and is a branch of Instituto Banco da Periferia, a nongovernmental organization based in Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil whose purpose is to provide economic and social development for communities in the region. The Maric谩 local government decided to open the bank to distribute money from royalties from oil sales found in the Santos Basin along the Maric谩 coastline in 2010.

The bank had just 40 accounts open on its first day, a slow beginning, and at the time, it distributed just 85 mumbucas per person monthly. 鈥淎s a pioneer, the municipality of Maric谩 had to invent a form of social and political engineering to, at the same time, make the basic income program economically viable, making the merchants convinced that it would be a benefit for them too and the benefit for people in vulnerable situations,鈥� said Adalton Mendon莽a, the secretary of economy for the Maric谩 council. 鈥淭eams were assembled in the squares, in the shops, to register, create accounts, and open bank branches 鈥� even with some difficulties, we managed to win this battle, but we continue in the fight to make basic income a right.鈥� At the end of 2021, the bank had 65,367 active accounts, and 2 billion mumbucas circulated in Maric谩 from 2018 through September 2021. 

Retail merchants that accept mumbuca pay a 2% fee, which pays for a zero-interest line of credit offered by Mumbuca Bank to entrepreneurs in the formal and informal market segments, with the program helping residents open businesses that they otherwise would not have been able to open. Residents can also receive interest-free home improvement loans in mumbuca. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Maric谩 boosted its payments to help reduce the harmful effects of the pandemic on its citizens. From April to June 2020, residents received an extra 170 mumbucas per month. In addition, in 2020, the , an additional payment paid in December every year through the mumbuca program, was paid eight months in advance, in April, so beneficiaries of the program received 430 mumbucas in April 2020. 

Informal workers, 鈥渕icro-entrepreneurs鈥� in the city who are not registered with the federal government, were also paid the minimum government salary of 1,045 reals ($210) in mumbuca for three months. 鈥淭he mumbuca helped me a lot during the pandemic, as no one was buying anything,鈥� said Rose Souza, who runs a small business selling handbags.

Washington Quaqu谩, the mayor of Maric谩 until 2016, was inspired to initiate the program by a to create the basic income program in the city. 鈥�,鈥� he said in a statement at the time. As a member of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers鈥� Party), this was entirely in keeping with the party鈥檚 socialist ideology. Quaqu谩s鈥� successor, Fabiano Horto, also of the Workers鈥� Party, . 

The local government sees the program鈥檚 success based on how many of its residents have access to and use the mumbuca: More than 42,000 families have signed up since the program launched. 

鈥淪ocial currency today is no longer a benefit to reach another policy, which has as its final point that every citizen of the city has the right to have an income from the resource from oil royalties,鈥� Horto told the newspaper O Dia in 2019. The mayor said he plans to invest the money received from oil responsibly. The to make the mumbuca and other social programs sustainable for the future. In 2022, the wealth fund is expected to control 1 billion reals ($210 million).

The local government also provides 1.8 million in mumbuca for more than 2,000 students living in Maric谩, which pays students 50 mumbuca per month and offers additional support of 1,200 mumbuca to incentivize students to continue with their studies. 鈥淲e are going to give these young people the opportunity to start thinking, from an early age, about what they want for their lives,鈥� , the education secretary in Maric谩, said in 2019. 鈥淭his is liberating education, not only in the educational sense, but also in the sense of thinking about work. With this resource, they will be able to think about forming companies, cooperatives, and producing their work. Educating is this, dreaming together, making dreams come true, and giving them wings so they can fly.鈥� 

The city has used its share of oil revenues to fund other social services outside of the basic income program. In 2021, the city government also created a free local mass transit program within the city, along with 188 bus shelters and 37 transport routes. The buses are called vermelhinhos, which can be translated to 鈥渓ittle reds,鈥� a nod to the color associated with the Workers鈥� Party. 

And in November 2022, beneficiaries of the basic income program are expected to receive a card that provides access to municipal transport vans throughout the city. In 2022, of these buses. The city also operates a free public bicycle program accessed via a mobile app.

Several cities in the state of Rio de Janeiro receive royalties from oil, but until 2022, none of them aside from Maric谩 had used the funds to directly tackle poverty. In the past year, the mumbuca model has inspired other cities within the state of Rio de Janeiro, such as Nitero铆, another coastal city that has a population of 450,000 people, to create its own community currencies based on the success of this model. Nitero铆鈥檚 social currency is named and started payments in January 2022 to 27,000 vulnerable families.

States outside of Rio de Janeiro are also showing interest in the program. 鈥淭oday, this success story extends to other states, such as Bahia, which has already demonstrated its intention to take the model, and the state of Minas Gerais, which has municipalities that have scheduled visits to learn about our model,鈥� Mendon莽a said. 鈥淪o it is the sustainable model that has popular support, political support, and national and international recognition. In this sense, we believe that we are on the right path.鈥�