A territorialização da política nacional de assistência social e a proteção social das pessoas idosas usuárias do benefício de prestação continuada no COREDE Vale do Rio Pardo/RS.

Abstract

This study presents the results of research that deals with the Territorialization the National Social Welfare Policy and Social Protection of the Elderly users of the Continued Benefit in COREDE Vale do Rio Pardo / RS, which was developed by the Program of Postgraduate in Regional Development at the University of Santa Cruz do Sul / RS and aimed to analyze the social protection of the elderly benefit of users of Continuous Cash in the municipalities of Santa Cruz do Sul, Pantano Grande and Verde Valley from the process territorialization of the Brazilian Social Security. The analysis was based on data such as aging of the population, social protection of the elderly, the Continuous Cash Benefit and territorialization of the National Social Assistance Policy in COREDE Vale do Rio Pardo. The study was guided by the Materialist and Historic Method from which were considered some key categories: the totality, historicity, mediation and contradiction. The data collection took place in all of the twenty-three municipalities of the Rio Pardo Valley’s COREDE from which sample were collected in the townships of Santa Cruz do Sul, Pantano Grande, and Vale Verde. The data gathering was performed in three Social Assistance Reference Centers of these municipalities, the National Institute of Social Security in the municipality of Santa Cruz do Sul and at the homes of some elderly people (about seven professionals and fifteen elder individuals were interviewed). We opted for the qualitative research approach, and the analysis was performed from the Content Analysis. The analysis of the data indicated that the elderly who benefit from the Continuous Cash Benefit are individuals predominantly with low education who have children, are homeowners, rely on the benefit as their sole source of income, and do not attend to the Social Assistance Reference Center often. The elderly people apply for the Continued Benefit once they are communicated about it by the National Institute of Social Security of through lawsuits. Several subjects of the study acknowledge that the benefit is essential for their survival as it provides for food and basic medication needs. However, with respect to the territorialization process of the National Social Assistance Policy, there are many challenges arising from aspects such as the reduced number of professionals and lack of knowledge with regards to some specific laws, particularly the regulation related to the social protection of the elderly users of the Continuous Cash Benefit. It is also noted that the Social Assistance Reference Centers’ personnel do not update the number of elderly people that rely on the benefit by township. They do not map the benefit requests by township. They do not evaluate the degree to which a person needs the benefit. As a result, there is little or no implemented actions to systematically monitor the elderly people relying on the benefit in townships the data was collected.