Impactos do programa de construção de creches e pré-escolas “Proinfância”: atendimento infantil, inserção das mulheres no mercado de trabalho e desempenho escolar

Abstract

This paper aimed to assess the impacts of a large construction program of daycare centers and preschool in Brazilian municipalities, the Proinfância. Estimates for differences in differences with paring by the nearest neighbor indicate a positive and significant program impact of around 2.6 percentage points on the service rate of early childhood education. However, there is no evidence of impact on women’s participation in the formal market or in school performance. Hence, it is worth noting that the program contributed to the increase of preschool care, but it presents low performance due to technical difficulties in its implementation process, such as the inadequate designation of land, the significant volume of unused resources, delays in transfers, deficient oversight and problems in monitoring and rendering accounts for the works.