Inclusive Growth bulletin

September 2012 #15

In this issue we highlight a series of Policy Research Briefs (PRB) that focus on recent developments in cash transfer schemes and integrated social protection programmes in Latin America. Latin America is well known for its cash transfer programmes. What is not so well known is the diversity across countries and the extent to which the programmes’ core goals have endured whilst many of their finer details and points of action evolved in scope and design alongside changes in government and institutional learning.

The major themes covered by this series of Briefs encompass a rich discussion regarding the various types of transfers, particularly those which seek to improve the lives of families with children. They also look at the institutional transformations underway in Uruguay and Argentina which facilitate greater convergence across the two-tier system involving both social assistance and social security components and the scope for other countries, such as Brazil, to address the fragmentation of their systems which effectively leaves significant numbers of children without coverage. More...

Publications

In PRB 26 - The Expansion of Cash Transfers in Chile and its Challenges: Ethical Family Income, Simone Cecchini, Claudia Robles and Luis Hernán Vargas discuss the various innovations that the new Ethical Family Income (Ingreso Ético Familiar) programme brings with regards to the well-known Chile Solidario. The authors focus on the significant expansion in the amounts and types of cash transfers (unconditional and conditional) which are now organized under the three fundamental pillars of dignity, duties and achievements. They also discuss the new emphasis placed on enhancing the household’s income generation capacities. This critical shift, they note, entails new forms of labour market support and employment subsidies to increase women’s labour force participation in a country which otherwise has one of the lowest rates in the region. (click here for the Spanish version)

In PRB 28 - Social Protection in Ecuador: A New Vision for Inclusive Growth, Ryan Nehring explores the scope and the role of Ecuador’s social development project with a focus on the role of its non-contributory cash transfer schemes. Nehring describes the main characteristics of the schemes and highlights some of the challenges around the institutional coordination mechanisms which he suggests may have significant implications for the effectiveness of the social protection network and its linkages with the National Development Plan (Buen Vivir).

In PRB 29 - The Expansion of Non-Contributory Transfer in Uruguay, Verónica Amarante and Andrea Vigorito describe the implementation of the National Assistance Plan of Social Emergency (Plan de Atención Nacional a la Emergencia Social, PANES) between 2005 and 2007 and summarize its socioeconomic impacts. They also analyse the transition from PANES to Plan Equidad (Equity Plan), placing particular emphasis on the reform of Family Allowances (AFAM) that unifies the targeted two-tier system (social security versus social assistance) for the provision of cash benefits to households with children. The results show a substantial increase of coverage, especially for those at the lower end of the income distribution ( click here for the Spanish version)

In PRB 30 – Monetary Transfers for Children and Adolescents in Argentina: Characteristics and Coverage of a “System” with Three Components, Fabio Bertranou and Roxana Maurizio analyse the incidence of the three programmes that give benefits to families with children in Argentina: the income tax deduction per child, the contributory family allowance and the Universal Child Allowance. The latter was established in 2009 and took on the role previously paid by the Heads of Household and the Families programme (Plan Jefes y Jefas y el Plan Familias). This programme faces a number of challenges. For Bertranou and Maurizio closing the gaps in coverage and to having a unified system for the child-related transfers as part of a broader policy for children and teenagers is essential (click here for the Spanish version)

In PRB 27 – No Child Left Without: A Universal Benefit for Children in Brazil, Sergei Soares and Pedro Ferreira analyse the current system of child benefits in Brazil, which features components similar to the Argentinean ones: a deduction per dependant in income tax, a contributory family allowance for formal sector workers and the variable benefit of Bolsa Família. Soares and Ferreira show how policy fragmentation in the current system leaves 16 million children that are in the middle and in the lower tail of the income distribution without coverage. The best way to improve the system, they claim, is to merge the three programmes and extend coverage to all children. The authors also discuss the additional costs of the programme for different level of benefits and its impacts on child poverty and inequality (click here for the Spanish version)

In addition to the five PRB described above, we also present two One Pagers (OP) that look at the Conditional Cash Transfer of El Salvador, Comunidades Solidarias Rurales (Solidarity Rural Communities).

In OP 167, Regression Discontinuity Impacts with an Implicit Index: Evaluating El Salvador’s Comunidades Solidarias Rurales Transfer Programme, Alan de Brauw explains the evaluation strategy developed to rigorously evaluate the programme. He also reports on the programme’s impact on education and maternal health indicators (click here for the Spanish version)
In OP 168, What’s happening with El Salvador’s CCT programmes?, Fábio Veras Soares describes the changes that took place during the transition from Red Solidaria to Comunidades Solidarias Rurales and summarizes the major recommendations that came out in a recent workshop that took place in San Salvador to discuss the redesign of the programme.
NEWS

South South Policy Dialogue

Indonesia study visit to South America

IPC-IG supported a mission of the Indonesian National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) to four South American Countries, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile, between 4th – 22nd June.

The TNP2K is linked to the Office of the Vice-President and is in charge of improving the quality of policy advice for poverty and social protection programmes intended to accelerate the pace of poverty reduction in Indonesia. This includes the TNP2K’s coordination and monitoring of the programmes. The mission to South America was an opportunity to learn about the experiences of the four countries in the design, management and updating of national databases of potential beneficiaries of social programmes; the different experiences with targeting methods; centralized and decentralized experiences in the implementation of the programmes as well as a variety of complementary programmes/initiatives, ranging from financial inclusion and saving incentives in Colombia and Peru to productive inclusion in Brazil and comprehensive early childhood development in Chile.

EVENTS

“Graduation in public policy: Constructing a regional working agenda”

Fundación Capitalorganized the workshop “Graduation in Public Policy; Constructing a Regional Working Agenda” with the support from the Ford Foundation. The interactive forum took place in Cartagena between 28 - 29th June. It offered a space for dialogue between academics, researchers, policymakers and practitioners, as well as representatives from international development agencies involved in the analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation of programmes for reducing extreme poverty and providing exit strategies that could be combined with existing Conditional Cash Transfer programmes. The event encouraged participants to consider potential methods for constructing a joint, regional working agenda to more effectively develop instruments to facilitate gradual exits from poverty and extreme poverty. For more information, visit the Seminar’s website

Partners

The Inter-American Social Protection Network (IASPN) from the Organization of the American States has launched the IASPN Knwoledge Portal.

It has been developed as a tool to share lessons and experiences in Social Protection, stay abreast of the latest developments in the sector, maintain close contact and collaboration as a community, and sustain ongoing learning. It is a regional platform to leverage and scale up the benefits of horizontal cooperation and international knowledge exchange.

We are fast approaching 5,500 friends and fans! Stay connected and follow us:

International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)
Poverty Practice, Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP
Address: Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco O, 7º andar
70052-900 Brasilia-DF, Brazil
Phone: (+ 55 61) 2105 5000
E-mail: contact.service@ipc-undp.org
Website: www.ipc-undp.org
Pres Room: http://pressroom.ipc-undp.org

Click here to receive IPC-IG publications and here to stop receiving any.


Inclusive Growth bulletin	September 2012 #15

In this issue we highlight a series of Policy Research Briefs (PRB) that focus on recent developments in cash transfer schemes and integrated social protection programmes in Latin America. Latin America is well known for its cash transfer programmes. What is not so well known is the diversity across countries and the extent to which the programmes’ core goals have endured whilst many of their finer details and points of action evolved in scope and design alongside changes in government and institutional learning. The major themes covered by this series of Briefs encompass a rich discussion regarding the various types of transfers, particularly those which seek to improve the lives of families with children. They also look at the institutional transformations underway in Uruguay and Argentina which facilitate greater convergence across the two-tier system involving both social assistance and social security components and the scope for other countries, such as Brazil, to address the fragmentation of their systems which effectively leaves significant numbers of children without coverage. More... Publications In PRB 26 - The Expansion of Cash Transfers in Chile and its Challenges: Ethical Family Income, Simone Cecchini, Claudia Robles and Luis Hernán Vargas discuss the various innovations that the new Ethical Family Income (Ingreso Ético Familiar) programme brings with regards to the well-known Chile Solidario. The authors focus on the significant expansion in the amounts and types of cash transfers (unconditional and conditional) which are now organized under the three fundamental pillars of dignity, duties and achievements. They also discuss the new emphasis placed on enhancing the household’s income generation capacities. This critical shift, they note, entails new forms of labour market support and employment subsidies to increase women’s labour force participation in a country which otherwise has one of the lowest rates in the region. (click here for the Spanish version) In PRB 28 - Social Protection in Ecuador: A New Vision for Inclusive Growth, Ryan Nehring explores the scope and the role of Ecuador’s social development project with a focus on the role of its non-contributory cash transfer schemes. Nehring describes the main characteristics of the schemes and highlights some of the challenges around the institutional coordination mechanisms which he suggests may have significant implications for the effectiveness of the social protection network and its linkages with the National Development Plan (Buen Vivir). In PRB 29 - The Expansion of Non-Contributory Transfer in Uruguay, Verónica Amarante and Andrea Vigorito describe the implementation of the National Assistance Plan of Social Emergency (Plan de Atención Nacional a la Emergencia Social, PANES) between 2005 and 2007 and summarize its socioeconomic impacts. They also analyse the transition from PANES to Plan Equidad (Equity Plan), placing particular emphasis on the reform of Family Allowances (AFAM) that unifies the targeted two-tier system (social security versus social assistance) for the provision of cash benefits to households with children. The results show a substantial increase of coverage, especially for those at the lower end of the income distribution ( click here for the Spanish version) In PRB 30 – Monetary Transfers for Children and Adolescents in Argentina: Characteristics and Coverage of a “System” with Three Components, Fabio Bertranou and Roxana Maurizio analyse the incidence of the three programmes that give benefits to families with children in Argentina: the income tax deduction per child, the contributory family allowance and the Universal Child Allowance. The latter was established in 2009 and took on the role previously paid by the Heads of Household and the Families programme (Plan Jefes y Jefas y el Plan Familias). This programme faces a number of challenges. For Bertranou and Maurizio closing the gaps in coverage and to having a unified system for the child-related transfers as part of a broader policy for children and teenagers is essential (click here for the Spanish version) In PRB 27 – No Child Left Without: A Universal Benefit for Children in Brazil, Sergei Soares and Pedro Ferreira analyse the current system of child benefits in Brazil, which features components similar to the Argentinean ones: a deduction per dependant in income tax, a contributory family allowance for formal sector workers and the variable benefit of Bolsa Família. Soares and Ferreira show how policy fragmentation in the current system leaves 16 million children that are in the middle and in the lower tail of the income distribution without coverage. The best way to improve the system, they claim, is to merge the three programmes and extend coverage to all children. The authors also discuss the additional costs of the programme for different level of benefits and its impacts on child poverty and inequality (click here for the Spanish version) In addition to the five PRB described above, we also present two One Pagers (OP) that look at the Conditional Cash Transfer of El Salvador, Comunidades Solidarias Rurales (Solidarity Rural Communities). In OP 167, Regression Discontinuity Impacts with an Implicit Index: Evaluating El Salvador’s Comunidades Solidarias Rurales Transfer Programme, Alan de Brauw explains the evaluation strategy developed to rigorously evaluate the programme. He also reports on the programme’s impact on education and maternal health indicators (click here for the Spanish version) In OP 168, What’s happening with El Salvador’s CCT programmes?, Fábio Veras Soares describes the changes that took place during the transition from Red Solidaria to Comunidades Solidarias Rurales and summarizes the major recommendations that came out in a recent workshop that took place in San Salvador to discuss the redesign of the programme.	NEWS South South Policy Dialogue Indonesia study visit to South America IPC-IG supported a mission of the Indonesian National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) to four South American Countries, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile, between 4th – 22nd June. The TNP2K is linked to the Office of the Vice-President and is in charge of improving the quality of policy advice for poverty and social protection programmes intended to accelerate the pace of poverty reduction in Indonesia. This includes the TNP2K’s coordination and monitoring of the programmes. The mission to South America was an opportunity to learn about the experiences of the four countries in the design, management and updating of national databases of potential beneficiaries of social programmes; the different experiences with targeting methods; centralized and decentralized experiences in the implementation of the programmes as well as a variety of complementary programmes/initiatives, ranging from financial inclusion and saving incentives in Colombia and Peru to productive inclusion in Brazil and comprehensive early childhood development in Chile. EVENTS “Graduation in public policy: Constructing a regional working agenda” Fundación Capitalorganized the workshop “Graduation in Public Policy; Constructing a Regional Working Agenda” with the support from the Ford Foundation. The interactive forum took place in Cartagena between 28 - 29th June. It offered a space for dialogue between academics, researchers, policymakers and practitioners, as well as representatives from international development agencies involved in the analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation of programmes for reducing extreme poverty and providing exit strategies that could be combined with existing Conditional Cash Transfer programmes. The event encouraged participants to consider potential methods for constructing a joint, regional working agenda to more effectively develop instruments to facilitate gradual exits from poverty and extreme poverty. For more information, visit the Seminar’s website Partners The Inter-American Social Protection Network (IASPN) from the Organization of the American States has launched the IASPN Knwoledge Portal. It has been developed as a tool to share lessons and experiences in Social Protection, stay abreast of the latest developments in the sector, maintain close contact and collaboration as a community, and sustain ongoing learning. It is a regional platform to leverage and scale up the benefits of horizontal cooperation and international knowledge exchange.

We are fast approaching 5,500 friends and fans! Stay connected and follow us:	International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) Poverty Practice, Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP Address: Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco O, 7º andar 70052-900 Brasilia-DF, Brazil Phone: (+ 55 61) 2105 5000 E-mail: contact.service@ipc-undp.org Website: www.ipc-undp.org Pres Room: http://pressroom.ipc-undp.org Click here to receive IPC-IG publications and here to stop receiving any.