Oportunidades
Encyclopedia
Oportunidades is a government social assistance program in Mexico
founded in 2002, based on a previous program called Progresa, created in 1997. It is designed to target poverty by providing cash payments to families in exchange for regular school attendance, health clinic visits, and nutritional support. Oportunidades is credited with decreasing poverty and improving health and educational attainment in regions in which it has been deployed. As of 2006, around one-quarter of Mexico's population participates in Oportunidades.
Key features of Oportunidades include:
Oportunidades has become a model for programs instituted in other countries, such as a pilot program in New York City, the Opportunity NYC
and the Social Protection Network
in Nicaragua
. Other countries that have instituted similar conditional cash transfer programs include Brazil
, Peru
, Honduras
, Jamaica
, Chile
, Malawi
and Zambia
.
Although this provided for an easier and faster startup, it also meant that many of the related agency structures, which Progresa-Oportunidades would have to rely upon for its future sustainability, were incompatible with the new program. Officials in related structures such as the Ministry of Health and Education were not provided with the appropriate incentives to channel their work towards Progresa-Oportunidades. Many were individuals who had worked on earlier poverty programs and who now saw their resources shifting in a new direction. Also, officials often had more to gain politically from abandoning this program and starting a new one.
As a centrally administered program, Oportunidades allows for low operational costs and a greater level of efficiency in the transmission of benefits directly to the participants in the program. The program has sometimes been criticized for this completely “top down” approach. However, the lack of community participation in the identification of beneficiaries and the allocation of funding also helps to limit the opportunities for corruption at the local level, which has traditionally been a problem with such government-funded programs.
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
founded in 2002, based on a previous program called Progresa, created in 1997. It is designed to target poverty by providing cash payments to families in exchange for regular school attendance, health clinic visits, and nutritional support. Oportunidades is credited with decreasing poverty and improving health and educational attainment in regions in which it has been deployed. As of 2006, around one-quarter of Mexico's population participates in Oportunidades.
Key features of Oportunidades include:
- Conditional Cash TransferConditional Cash TransferConditional cash transfer programs aim to reduce poverty by making welfare programs conditional upon the receivers' actions. The government only transfers the money to persons who meet certain criteria...
(CCT) - To encourage co-responsibility, receipt of aid is dependent on family compliance with program requirements, such as ensuring children attend school and family members receive preventative health care - "Rights holders" - Program recipients are mothers, the caregiver directly responsible for children and family health decisions
- Cash payments are made from the government directly to families to decrease overhead and corruption
- A system of evaluation and statistical controls to ensure effectiveness
- Rigorous selection of recipients based on geographical and socioeconomic factors
- Program requirements target measures considered most likely to lift families out of poverty, focusing on health, nutrition and children's education
Oportunidades has become a model for programs instituted in other countries, such as a pilot program in New York City, the Opportunity NYC
Opportunity NYC
Opportunity NYC was an experimental Conditional Cash Transfer program being launched in New York City by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Announced in April 2007, it is the first CCT program to be launched in the United States or any other developed nation...
and the Social Protection Network
Social Protection Network
The Social Protection Network is a Nicaraguan Conditional Cash Transfer program. It is designed to address both current and future poverty via cash transfers targeted to households living in poverty in rural Nicaragua. It began in 2000. -External links:*...
in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
. Other countries that have instituted similar conditional cash transfer programs include Brazil
Bolsa Família
Bolsa Família is a social welfare program of the Brazilian government, part of the Fome Zero network of federal assistance programs. Bolsa Família provides financial aid to poor Brazilian families; if they have children, families must ensure that the infants attend school and are vaccinated...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
and Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
.
The Political Organization of Progresa-Oportunidades
Progresa-Oportunidades is designed to be a centrally run program that relies on a horizontal integration of programs and services among the various agencies and ministries within the executive branch. This required the establishment of a body with enough power to coordinate the participants in the program and monitor the budget. Instead of restructuring an old agency, it was decided to form a new agency with all of the appropriate powers and the backing from the president.Although this provided for an easier and faster startup, it also meant that many of the related agency structures, which Progresa-Oportunidades would have to rely upon for its future sustainability, were incompatible with the new program. Officials in related structures such as the Ministry of Health and Education were not provided with the appropriate incentives to channel their work towards Progresa-Oportunidades. Many were individuals who had worked on earlier poverty programs and who now saw their resources shifting in a new direction. Also, officials often had more to gain politically from abandoning this program and starting a new one.
As a centrally administered program, Oportunidades allows for low operational costs and a greater level of efficiency in the transmission of benefits directly to the participants in the program. The program has sometimes been criticized for this completely “top down” approach. However, the lack of community participation in the identification of beneficiaries and the allocation of funding also helps to limit the opportunities for corruption at the local level, which has traditionally been a problem with such government-funded programs.
Information Strategies
To effectively disseminate information about the program, Progresa-Oportunidades pursued a “three-pronged” information strategy. First, an extensive amount of information was made generally available through the Internet. Secondly, information also provided to Congress and other government officials at all levels in the form of detailed budget proposals, program evaluations, and other relevant documents. Finally, public relations campaigns were initially minimal to avoid raised public expectations. However, since 2006, the public profile of the program has been raised, particularly through extensive radio and television advertisements.Transparency and Accountability in Progresa-Oportunidades
Traditionally, most anti-poverty programs in Mexico have relied upon presidential support to establish their funding and public profile. Although Oportunidades originally was no different in its dependence upon Zedillo to support its startup costs, much effort has since been made to establish an image of Progresa-Oportunidades as existing independently of the president and party politics, to heighten chances it would survive transfers of power in the executive branch. Several congressional provisions have helped to ensure this identity. Among these are several provisions that prevent the program being used for political proselytizing. Also, in 2000 and 2003, program officials were prohibited from signing up new beneficiaries within six months of national elections in order to prevent vote buying from taking place. In addition, budget provisions have been enacted that attempt to directly communicate with program beneficiaries to educate them about rights and responsibilities regarding the program.Progresa-Oportunidades under Political Transitions
The transition between the Zedillo and Fox administrations was a crucial test of the long-term sustainability of Progresa-Oportunidades. President Fox’s administration achieved early public recognition for its commitment to anti-poverty strategies as well as its willingness to continue with earlier initiatives that had already proved to be successful. Also, Fox ultimately decided to continue with the program because the independent image of the program meant that it had not become identified with the old ruling party (the PRI) or with former President Zedillo in the eyes of the public. In addition, Fox had received confirmation of the program’s benefits both from the program’s own impact evaluations and outside international financial institutions who all held the program in high esteem and hoped to see it continue.Effectiveness of Oportunidades
The anti-poverty program has become a flagship success. Thirty percent of the population directly receive conditional cash transfers from the program. Effects have been both positive and numerous. Increased contraceptive use in rural areas of Mexico has resulted in reduced teen pregnancy and fewer infant deaths. Students are progressing with school for more years and with high grades. The number of graduating high school students has increased 85%. More students are going to college.Further reading
- Coady, D. and S. Parker (2002): A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Demand and Supply Side Education Interventions: the Case of Progresa in Mexico, FCND Discussion Paper, No. 127, Washington, D.C., International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
- Hoddinot, J. and E. Skoufias (2003): The Impact of Progresa on Food Consumption, FCND Discussion Paper, No. 150, Washington, D.C., International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).