 The World Bank has strengthened emphasis on working with government, communities, and other partners to ensure that support benefits Argentina's overall development. The following are some examples where assistance has resulted in a positive impact on the ground. Social Protection | Education | Health
Social Protection
In 2003, the Bank supported Argentina’s social safety net plan by approving a $600 million loan to finance the country’s Heads of Household (Plan Jefas y Jefes de Hogar) program. Under the program, the equivalent of $45 monthly is paid to an unemployed head of household with children under 18 or with disabled dependents of any age, and who lacks any other safety nets in exchange for participation in 4 hours of work in a workfare subproject. Recipients work on infrastructure or community services projects, or take vocational training.
Through the community services, small investments, and rehabilitation/maintenance subprojects, “Heads of Household” provides temporary financial assistance to poor unemployed workers with dependents, and improves social and economic infrastructure and services in poor communities, thereby raising living standards. The number of participants in the program is estimated at around 1.5 million at its peak, although the number is expected to slowly decline during the projected 2 years of implementation. The Bank also extended in 2003 a $500 million loan to support an economic and social transition plan designed to lay the groundwork for a full-scale recovery and reform program that will be developed and put into action by the new government. The transition plan includes further support for “Heads of Household” and other social safety net programs, such as medical immunizations, infant and maternal health care, and treatment of HIV-AIDS patients.
Also included in the transition plan are financing of the program to discontinue use of alternative currencies, and for a related project to reduce provincial government deficits.
Education
One-half of the country’s population of primary and secondary school students were enabled to obtain school supplies as the result of World Bank support. Expansion of an existing scholarship program for poor secondary students ensured that 350,000 students were able to
continue their education. Furthermore, enlarging a school nutrition program ensured that an additional 1.2 million children received this essential assistance.
The Second Buenos Aires Secondary Education Project is an example of the Bank’s active support to the education reform process in Argentina through its focus on improving the equity, and quality of, and access to secondary education services. The project aims to improve schooling and learning conditions for students in the 12-18 years age group from households of socio-economically disadvantaged areas of the Province of Buenos Aires. This is currently being accomplished by expanding access and providing resources for increasing the annual number of teaching hours, creating additional school spaces, and providing pedagogic equipment and services, such as school libraries, science and language laboratories, and learning material.
Health
In the health sector, support for basic-health programs allowed 17,000 patients to be cared for in 2002, a significant increase compared to the 10,000 served in 2001. World Bank financing also made possible the distribution of 7.4 million kilograms of fortified milk to children, and the providing of a projected 141,230 basic-medication kits throughout the country in 2003. Immunization programs, which were faltering by early 2002, were enabled to recover and to expand their reach. By 2002, 100 percent coverage was reached for tuberculosis protection, with 95 percent coverage on polio and other standard immunizations, some of which had fallen as low as 84 percent coverage in 2001.
Currently, the Provincial Maternal Child Health Sector Adjustment Loan seeks to respond to the urgent health needs of the poor, particularly the uninsured mothers and children, starting in Argentina’s poorest provinces. This project is in line with the government’s goal of reducing the burden of maternal and child mortality by a minimum of 50 percent of the “avoidable” child deaths, and reduce the overall rate of maternal and child mortality in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals for Health by 2010.
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