| Strategy | Highlights | Non-Lending and Lending Priorities | Updated: November 2006 Sector Strategy As part of its social protection strategy, the Latin America and Caribbean region is now working on three complementary fronts: improving labor market outcomes; widening the scope and effectiveness of risk management; and tackling persistent structural poverty among vulnerable groups.
The unifying theme is an urgent need to reform the truncated welfare state model, in which access to insurance and to basic social programs (such as health) was linked to participation in the (relatively small) formal sector of the labor market, resulting in enormous gaps in coverage and large distributional inequities. FY06 Regional Highlights The LAC Region supported countries’ efforts to reduce structural poverty by completing preparation of conditional cash transfer (CCT) projects in Colombia, El Salvador, Ecuador, Argentina and advanced preparation of a similar project in the Dominican Republic. Efforts focused on improving effectiveness of the demand-side intervention and on strengthening delivery of basic social services to the poor.
The region carried out a special review of control and accountability mechanisms in Bank-financed CCT programs, as part of the region’s Risk Review, to identify areas for institutional strengthening.
The region also made significant progress in supporting countries broader efforts to develop more effective and coherent risk management systems. In Colombia, for example, the Bank completed the first phase of its efforts to strengthen the country’s social protection system through a multi-faceted program focused on: (i) institutionalizing social protection, (ii) improving the efficiency of social spending developing, and (iii) developing a social safety net for the country’s poorest families. In Brazil, the Brava program focused on strengthening the effectiveness of country’s social safety net to ensure that it is (a) well-targeted; (b) effective in reducing current and future poverty; and (c) coordinated (with fewer gaps and overlapping programs). Across the board, LAC’s work focused on strengthening results-based management systems through support for sound M&E programs.
FY06-09 Non-Lending and Lending Priorities/Expectations LAC has several non-lending and lending priorities for the FY06-09 period. In the case of non-lending services, priorities include: Analysis of the labor market, with special emphasis on the informal sector and on ensuring social protection coverage for poor workers, Analysis and technical support on public policy responses to shocks, Analysis and dialogue on extending social insurance to low-income workers and families Analysis and dialogue on youth development, and Technical assistance for strengthening countries’ monitoring and evaluation systems
Priorities in lending include: Continued emphasis on developing and strengthening efforts to reduce structural poverty through demand-side interventions (e.g., CCTs) and the complementary supply of basic services, Promoting effective approaches to combat malnutrition, and Multi-sectoral, programmatic support to the development and strengthening of countries’ social protection systems.
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