GSDRC newsfeed on Americas and Caribbean

A Review of Social Protection in Latin America

Armando Barrientos and Leonith Hinojosa-Valencia — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This study reviews social protection trends and policy responses in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the last two decades, the region has seen reforms of social insurance pensions and health insurance and the rapid expansion of social assistance. These changes have re-shaped social protection in most countries in the region. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain. The implementation and delivery of social assistance programmes require long-term partnerships under the direction of secure and well-resourced public sector agencies.

Local Economy Effects of Social Transfers

Armando Barrientos and Rachel Sabates-Wheeler — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

How and to what extent have social cash transfer programmes affected the local economy? This paper reports on a study examining the incidence and significance of local economy effects of social transfers in rural Mexico. The study focused on changes in household consumption and asset holdings among households ineligible to participate in the PROGRESA targeted cash transfer programme. Evidence supports the presence of local economy effects.

Measuring the Impact of Bolsa Familia Program Based on Data from Health and Nutrition Days (Brazil)

Rômulo Paes-Sousa and Leonor Maria Pacheco Santos — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Does Brazil's Bolsa Familia conditional cash transfer programme reduce children's malnutrition and food insecurity? This study assesses the programme's impact on the nutritional status of zero to five year olds. Data on 22,375 children's height/age, weight/age and weight/height shows that the PBF does improve child nutrition. To ensure an increase in beneficiaries' health levels, families need greater access to goods and services which interact with improved nutrition. The provision of more and better basic services and initiatives for inclusion in the labour market would ensure the PBF's effectiveness.

Ex-Ante Methods to Assess the Impact of Social Insurance Policies on Labor Supply with an Application to Brazil

David A. Robalino et al. — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This study has developed a behavioural model to assess how changes in the rules of pensions and unemployment benefit systems could affect savings rates, the share of time that individuals spend outside of the formal sector, retirement decisions, and system costs. Key parameters are: (1) preferences regarding consumption and leisure; (2) preferences regarding formal versus informal work; (3) attitudes towards risks; (4) the rate of time preference; and (5) the distribution of an outside shock that affects movements in and out of the social insurance system, given individual decisions. Simulations suggest, among other findings, the importance of joint policy analysis of unemployment benefits and pension systems.

Conditional Cash Transfers in Brazil, Chile and Mexico: Implications for Inequality

Sergei Soares — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

What impact do conditional cash transfers (CCTs) have on inequality? This paper investigates the effects of CCTs in Brazil, Mexico and Chile. CCT programmes helped reduce inequality in all three countries between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s. They are a low-cost way of reducing inequality that can be replicated. However, the total amount transferred by these programmes is modest, and their expansion is limited by political, administrative and budget constraints.

Conditional Cash Transfers: What Implications for Equality and Social Cohesion? The experience of Oportunidades in Mexico

Rebecca Holmes and Rachel Slater — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The Oportunidades programme aims to increase the human capabilities of poor households and break the intergenerational cycle of poverty. Oportunidades helps five million families to enhance their well-being through cash transfers to mothers and increased access to education, health and nutrition. The programme has increased both access to and equality of access to public services, but improved service quality may be needed. In order for the Oportunidades model to be transferable, there must be: (1) strong political commitment to the programme; (2) a high level of institutional capacity in terms of the number and skills of staff; and (3) a supply of accessible health and education services.

Cash Transfers and Voting Behaviour: An Assessment of the Political Impacts of the Bolsa Família Program

Cesar Zucco — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

What was the political impact of the government's Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer (CCT) programme in the 2006 Brazilian elections? This study estimates the extent to which the programme increased the probability of voting for President Lula. It concludes that Bolsa Família undoubtedly helped to re-elect Lula. While there is still considerable debate over the long-term implications of CCTs, the significant pro-incumbent electoral effects identified suggest that CCTs could be both 'good policy' and 'good politics'. Knowledge among politicians of these electoral effects could increase political will for the implementation of CCTs and reduce reliance on clientelism.

Capacity and Capacity Development: Coping with Complexity

Derick W. Brinkerhoff with Peter J. Morgan — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

What has been learned about capacity and capacity development (CD), and their relationship to achieving sustainable results? What are the implications for analysis and practice? This introductory article to a symposium on capacity and CD highlights: the benefits of viewing capacity and CD through systems lenses; the salience of politics; and the need for new approaches to the practice of CD. Outsiders may be able to assist in developing capacity, but sustained capacity results when endogenous actor-led processes stimulate the creation and strengthening of five core capabilities.

Horizontal Inequality: Two Types of Trap

Frances Stewart — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Why do group inequalities often persist over the long term, and how can they be addressed? Group membership matters because well-being is affected both by individual circumstances and how well the group is doing. Strong complementarities among (1) capabilities and (2) capitals explain persistent group inequality. Multiple deprivations in capabilities and assets prevent catch-up without special interventions. Addressing HIs therefore requires governments to go beyond eliminating current, formal discrimination: the weak asset and capabilities base arising from past discrimination must also be tackled. As social and cultural capital inequalities cannot be eliminated by policy, strong affirmative action in other areas such as education and employment is justified.

Monitoring and Evaluation of Peace Operations

Cedric de Coning and Paul Romita — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations are tasked with increasingly complex and ambitious mandates, demanding integration and system-wide coherence, and resulting in the development of many sophisticated monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems. What are the critical challenges for M&E practitioners, and how can they strengthen research and practice? Peace operation M&E is promoting a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing in governments, research institutions, and regional and international organisations. However, much more could be achieved with a common vocabulary and approach, and a higher profile for M&E.

Introduction: Negotiating Empowerment

Andrea Cornwall and Jenny Edwards — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Why are conventional interventions that seek to promote women�s empowerment insufficient? This article highlights the choices, negotiations, narratives, and context of women�s lived experience. It finds that empowerment is a complex process of negotiation rather than a linear sequence of inputs and outcomes. Governments and development agencies need to give more consideration to the structures perpetuating gender inequality. They should invest in creating an enabling environment for women�s empowerment, and should support those who are tackling deeply rooted issues of power impeding transformative change.

Building Political Will for Enhanced Access to Information: Lessons from Latin America

Anabel Cruz — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

How can citizens� groups and other stakeholders build political will for the approval and enactment of right to information laws? By analysing experience in Honduras, Nicaragua, Chile and Uruguay, this book chapter from Civicus explores how political will was built to pass access to information laws. It also looks at the challenges of implementation, arguing that the adoption of legislation is merely an important first step. It will mean little if government, encouraged by informed citizens, does not implement the laws.

Election Campaigns, Partisan Balance, and the News Media

Holli Semetko — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

What is the impact of partisan balance in the news media during elections in democracies and societies in transition? This book chapter from the World Bank examines the impact of balance and bias in the news media on public opinions, political behaviour and, ultimately, on election outcomes. Drawing on case studies of recent elections in Kenya, Russia, Mexico and Turkey, it argues that the media, particularly television, plays a key role in influencing election processes.

Transitional Justice and Peace Building: Diagnosing and Addressing the Socioeconomic Roots of Violence through a Human Rights Framework

Lisa J. Laplante — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How can transitional justice mechanisms � in particular, truth commissions (TCs) � better accommodate socio-economic issues in order to respond to new cycles of violence in post-conflict settings? On the basis of comparative country experiences, this article from the International Journal of Transitional Justice argues that TCs should expand their mandates to incorporate a legal framework that views the socio-economic root causes of conflict in terms of violations of economic, social and cultural rights. By adopting a human rights-based framework, TCs can contribute to post-conflict recovery by diagnosing the socio-economic causes of conflict and helping to orient national policy agendas towards addressing poverty and the structural inequalities that lead to violence.

The Failure of State Building and the Promise of State Failure: Reinterpreting the Security-Development Nexus in Haiti

Kamil Shah — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

How can a relational perspective inform state building in fragile states? This Third World Quarterly article argues that mainstream approaches to resolving concerns of security and development through state building fail to consider the influence of historical and external factors such as transnational power relations. The case of Haiti illustrates how attempts to consolidate the modern (liberal) state have in fact contributed to insecurities. A focus on social and political struggle, domination and subordination provides a useful framework for analysis of the historical trajectory of development in � and of � fragile states.

Do No Harm: International Support for Statebuilding

OECD DAC — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

How can donor interventions hinder or assist statebuilding processes? This report from the OECD's Development Assistance Committee draws on country case-studies to examine five key areas of statebuilding. Donors operating in fragile states need to analyse where their own countries� strategic objectives contradict statebuilding objectives and where statebuilding objectives are themselves at odds. Donors can assist statebuilding by promoting: (1) inclusive political processes; (2) state legitimacy; (3) constructive state-society relations; (4) social expectations that are realistic but push states to do more; and (5) the development of sustainable capacities to carry out state functions.

World Bank Influence and Institutional Reform in Argentina

Maria F. Tuozzo — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

How has the World Bank influenced institutional reforms in Argentina? During the 1990s, the World Bank increasingly promoted the concept of governance reforms. This article from Development and Change looks at governance reforms in Argentina�s judicial sector. The World Bank�s approach to institutional reform has been donor-driven, overly technical and based on restricted forms of decision making. This approach contributed to inadequate initiatives in Argentina and is likely to yield disappointing results elsewhere.

Legitimacy and Context: Implications for Public Sector Reform in Developing Countries

Christine Andrews — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How can successful public sector reform be achieved in developing countries? This article from Public Administration and Development argues that understanding the interplay between public institutions and the surrounding social context is fundamental to developing a reform strategy. Poorer and socio-economically stratified countries face greater reform challenges owing to public institutions' lack of legitimacy. Reforms should focus on areas of governance that impact on poverty and inequality.

Whose Aid? The Case of the Bolivian Elections Project

Rosalind Eyben, Rosario Leon — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT

This book chapter explores the ambiguities of aid and its influence in national politics through a case study from Bolivia. The authors reflect on their involvement in a donor-funded civil society project to increase the participation of socially excluded groups in Bolivia�s 2002 national elections. This project highlighted the dilemmas of �national ownership� amidst government objections to a programme arguably seen as a threat to the power of elites. The authors suggest that aid may be understood as a gift, problematic and ambiguous in meaning, in which relations of power are imbued with moral purpose.

Ethno-Religious Conflicts: Exploring the Role of Religion in Conflict Resolution

S. A. Kadayifci-Orellana — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

How can the religious texts, values and beliefs used to incite conflict be harnessed to promote peace-building and reconciliation? What contributions can faith-based actors make to conflict resolution? This chapter from the SAGE Handbook of Conflict Resolution examines the ways in which religion can be used to inspire both war and peace. The revival of religiously motivated conflicts, and the increasing involvement of religious actors in resolving them, requires understanding of their dynamics.