What´s Next After Fifteen Years of Conditional Cash Transfers in Mexico?

• In Event: National and Sub-National Innovations in Social Policy in Mexico: Evaluation and Analysis

Abstract

Frequently, Oportunidades, the main Mexican conditional cash transfer program, is presented as a model to be followed in Latin American and other poor countries. After fifteen years of implementation it is time for a comprehensive reflection regarding its impact, outcomes, shortcomings and especially its future prospects. Over the span of one and a half decades the program has gone through several changes regarding the selection of the targeted population and the nature of some benefits. The main transformations in the design of the program will be highlighted and examined. In addition, this paper will stress the analysis of future scenarios taking into account the complexity of the interrelationship between education and existing labor markets. The paper will also explore the possibilities for alternative approaches for steady poverty reduction and effective narrowing of inequality gaps. Taking into account the September, 2014 announcement that Oportunidades will be transformed into a new program, Prospera, the paper will analyze the continuities and discontinuities between both programs from a comparative public policy perspective, stressing the features, implications and possible results of the new components included in the design of Prospera. Finally the paper will discuss whether a conditional cash transfer program could include a rights perspective framework.

Author

• Pablo E Yanes, ECLAC