The Regional Plan for Social Inclusion and Citizenship (PRISC), currently under public consultation, is based on the idea of a “safety net” that keeps people out of situations of poverty and social exclusion.
The new plan, approved by the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition government, aims to reduce monetary poverty in the Azores by 40% between 2025 and 2028, “with an annual reduction of 10%.”
This plan results from an evaluation process that began in 2022 of the Regional Strategy to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion 2018-2028 (ERCPES). The Center for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra evaluated this.
The PRISC states that “the existence of a safety net to counter unforeseen situations or events (illness, accident, etc.) is crucial to avoid or prevent falling into or returning to situations of poverty.”
Concrete measures involve unified monetary support for children and young people up to 18 from PRISC beneficiary households, “which will be added to the other support already provided (economic precariousness allowances, family allowance, school social action).” There will also be additional support for elderly PRISC beneficiaries.
Provision is made for accumulating income from work (taxable income) with social support up to a total reference amount.

An agreement has also been sought for the decade, within the framework of social consultation, for “sustained growth in wages and quality of work.”
PRISC points out that “income security enables intergenerational solidarity and the relative safeguarding of the well-being of children and young people” and that “another component of income security relates to the working poor, making it possible to mitigate the negative impact of low wages and possible fluctuations in the labor market.”
The researchers from the University of Coimbra believe that “the definition of the people and households to be covered by the measures included in PRISC should not be based on the restricted concept of monetary poverty (people with an income of less than 60% of the regional income), but on a level that allows for the creation of a safety net that enshrines the following assumption: no one (re)falls into poverty”.
“This safety net will allow people and households to have confidence in the future and to be safeguarded against any unforeseen event (accident, illness, change in the international, national and regional macroeconomic situation) that significantly affects their socio-economic situation. The level to be defined will be close to the regional median income, given the current prevalence of very high levels of poverty and material and social deprivation in the Autonomous Region of the Azores,” they maintain.

in Diário Insular- José Lourenço-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.