The State of Ceará will invest in prevention and violence reduction with IDB support

An IDB loan for $52.1 million will benefit more than 100,000 young people, vulnerable groups and citizens of ten municipalities of the Brazilian State 

The State of Ceará in Brazil seeks to contribute to the reduction of violent crimes and prevention for young people and vulnerable groups in the state with a $52.1 million loan approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). 

The loan will finance the Integrated Violence Prevention and Reduction Program (PREVIO), a strategic initiative of the Pact for a Pacific Ceará, coordinated by the State Vice-Government and involving multiple government ministries and municipal administrations. The program has three components aimed at: the social prevention of violence, police modernization, and the prevention of criminal recidivism in adolescents. 

The PREVIO program will seek to benefit more than 100,000 young people, women, families and LGBT groups in ten municipalities that account for 60% of the homicides of adolescents and young people in the state (Caucaia, Crato, Fortaleza, Iguatú, Itapipoca, Juazeiro do Norte, Maracanaú , Maranguape, Quixadá and Sobral). It will promote programs with the objective of strengthening municipal security planning and management, community violence prevention, prevention of domestic and gender violence, and prevention of youth violence. 

The program will also focus its efforts on strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of Public Security and Social Defense (SSPDS) to prevent and investigate violent crimes in the state, with a special focus on the most violent territories of the state capital, Fortaleza. To do this, it will promote actions and programs that strengthen the criminal analysis capacity of the SSPDS with data and artificial intelligence, community policing strategies aimed at solving problems, and the intelligence and police investigation capacity. 

Finally, PREVIO will support the State Socio-educational Assistance System (SEAS) to prevent criminal recidivism in adolescents in the state, working with the 18 socio-educational centers of the SEAS. For this, it will promote actions and programs focused on the identification and treatment of risk factors, the safety of adolescents and civil servants, the expansion and adaptation of the educational and labor offer, and community reintegration programs and support to non-custodial juvenile sentencing. 

The IDB loan is for a 25-year term, a grace period of five and a half years and an interest rate based on LIBOR and has a local counterpart of $13 million.