Social programs and poverty alleviation : an assessment of government initiatives

This study was designed to help the Government focus on designing and implementing short-term, quick impact, basic needs types of programs. Its objectives are to evaluate and make recommendations on the Government's new short-term interventions in the areas of health and nutrition, low-income housing and primary education. The study also focuses on the statistical work underlying the Government's poverty interventions and emphasizes the need for developing and refining the statistical tools.

 

Colombia’s Social Inclusion Policy Targets Extreme Poverty

Though Colombia’s economic growth has helped spur prosperity, President Juan Manuel Santos is pushing for more social inclusion measures to aid the approximately 5 million people living in extreme poverty. The Santos administration is targeting the 10 percent of the population with the lowest income through programs including a multi-faceted anti-poverty initiative and an ambitious subsidized housing project.

 

Santos is intent on reducing persistent poverty, and a program aimed at the poorest of the poor forms the crux of his social inclusion plan. Originally created in 2006 under the name “Red Juntos”, the Red Unidos (United Network) program seeks to lift 1.4 million Colombians out of indigence. Santos launched the program in March 2011 as a part of the National Social Prosperity Plan, and the project serves as an umbrella to the government’s numerous anti-poverty initiatives. Santos then created the National Agency for Overcoming Extreme Poverty (Anspe) to oversee and implement Red Unidos. This program brings together a large number of anti-poverty initiatives, ranging from micro-life insurance to increasing access to health services and clean water. Anspe employs around 10,000 representatives to meet with low-income families to determine how they can benefit from the program and to establish an “action plan.”