Inclusive growth still not in reach as development gaps persist — study
Inclusive economic growth is the exception rather than the norm, findings from a new global study suggest. Those on the lowest incomes in countries around the world have seen less...
Multi-tiered child benefit systems for universal coverage
There is potential in many countries for building multi-tiered child benefit systems that achieve universal coverage of child benefits through a combination of social insurance and tax-financed instruments. At the February 2019 Universal...
Conditions and sanctions don’t work, and hinder the rights of the most vulnerable
A UK MP found “depressingly unsurprising” the finding that punishing people in their hour of greatest need is ineffective and ethically questionable. Indeed, the results of the five-year study on Welfare Conditionality, presented to Parliament last month, should surprise none of us. The evidence has been mounting for years that a punitive...
The demise of Mexico’s Prospera programme: a tragedy foretold
Stephen Kidd looks at the recent shocking news that Mexico’s Prospera programme has been abolished and explains why it should come as a surprise to no-one. Stephen Kidd The big story in the social protection world last week was the news that Mexico’s Prospera programme is to be abolished after...
COVID-19: an opportunity to re-design social security systems for the XXIst Century? Webinar reflections
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) held a webinar on COVID-19: an opportunity to re-design social security systems for the XXIst Century? for the Latin American region. The conversation, facilitated by Carmen Pagés from the IDB, delved into the precarious state of the region’s social security systems, particularly in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Questioning women’s role as the sole recipients of benefits: contrasting evidence on gender-sensitive social protection programming
Juan Gonzalo Jaramillo Mejia In the midst of speaking to families benefitting from various social assistance schemes in rural Mexico, an on-line conversation has made me question again the assumption that it is best to target women as the main recipient of benefits. On International Women’s Day, can we further delve into that discussion, interrogate the prevailing narratives on gender and...
Can anthropological research inform the design of social protection schemes?
Maia Green Programmes that give money to poor households are implemented across the Global South as part of donor-financed development assistance. Originally designed as a short–term ameliorative for the social impacts of structural adjustment in Latin America, they are now components of development–oriented social policy in countries as diverse as Kenya, the Philippines, Egypt, Ethiopia,...
Welfare States, Rights and Basic Income in Latin America
The publication, co-edited and co-authored by Development Pathways’ Senior Social Policy Specialist Alexandra Barrantes, seeks to introduce some of the key debates around the expansion and impact of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) and social justice, in the context of Latin America’s structurally unequal countries.
Welfare States, Rights and Basic Income in Latin America
A book on Welfare States, Rights and Basic Income in Latin America published in December 2019 has now become fully available online (only in Spanish).
COVID-19 and social insurance responses in Latin America
This blog post is based on a partnership between the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean of UNICEF and the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) who have been working on the analysis of the social protection responses and COVID-19, with particular focus on social assistance, school feeding programmes, social insurance and labour market, migration and digitalisation of the implementation of the responses.