Alexandra Barrantes
Senior Social Policy Specialist
A Senior Social Policy Specialist heading the Social Policy Unit with more than 18 years’ experience in international development focusing on social protection, poverty, economic, social & cultural rights, right to identity and governance. She loves to paint and to explore amateur photography (and is also our unofficial photographer!).
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Alexandra Barrantes' Work
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Universal Child Benefits and the need for disability- and equity-sensitive social protection
Alexandra Barrantes highlights her take-aways on disability and dignity from the recent Universal Child Benefits conference in Geneva. A couple of weeks ago, UNICEF and the ILO gathered together a large group of international experts, practitioners and government officials to discuss Universal Child Benefits (UCBs). The issue prompting the discussions was the compelling the case for UCBs and for universal social protection in general. Although countries around...
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Spearheading Cash Transfer Design and Implementation Worldwide
Development Pathways’ experts have experience in both the high-level design of cash transfer programmes and the operational design and technical parameters for programme implementation. When designing social protection programmes —...
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Training to underpin the preparation of Uganda’s National Development Plans
There is a very strong rationale for Uganda to progressively increase its investment in social protection up to 2030 and beyond and that social protection should figure prominently in the...
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Designing and implementing Angola’s first cash transfer for children
In Angola young people and children represent a majority of the population. The United Nations Children’s Fund estimates that nearly four in ten under-fives suffer from stunting, hindering their cognitive...
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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...
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Improving food, nutrition and income security in Karamoja
Karamoja, a northeastern region in Uganda, has been perceived as ‘lagging behind’ and has been treated by external parties, both the Government and development partners, as an exception to the...
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*STOP PRESS* at Davos time: Social protection a boost for the economy! (When it’s for the rich)
This year’s Davos there is a bigger spotlight than ever on inequality, but whilst the rhetoric is changing, I am struck by how entrenched assumptions and perceptions about poverty are, and this matters for social protection practitioners, writes Alexandra Barrantes. It is encouraging to see the growing amount of research...
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Importance of dignity to social protection implementation underlined in Guadalajara
4th September: Academia and international development experts have met in Mexico to discuss the social transformations required to eradicate poverty and significantly reduce inequality within and among countries. Participants discussing...
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Looking afresh at social protection programmes, with a human rights lens
Using a human rights lens to look at how cash transfer programmes are designed and implemented brings a number of considerations into view that would otherwise go unseen. A crucial one is that human rights principles should form an integral part of the key processes of cash transfer programmes and...
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How has national ownership of Uganda’s Senior Citizens’ Grant developed?
A visit by Ugandan MPs to London has thrown light on the political economy of social protection, including the circumstances in which a donor-supported programme gains national ownership, writes Alexandra Barrantes. The delegation of Ugandan MPs representing the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection participated in a visit organised by HelpAge International and Age International to the...
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Lost in translation in social protection: rights and development
Those of us working on social protection have, most likely, interacted with both the human rights and international development worlds and noticed their somewhat different approaches to social protection. While there is some overlap between the approaches, they often struggle to work collaboratively. We need to develop a shared language...
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MPs in Uganda make case for universal social protection programme
When discussing the governance of social protection in developing countries, we usually focus on the Executive Branch institutions and their role in policy development – as well as the design, implementation and monitoring of schemes – but pay little attention to the role of Parliaments. Nonetheless, as part of their...
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