Results

Results in Labor & Social Protections

At the request of borrowers, the World Bank continues to support LAC countries' policy reforms that address a broad range of Labor & Social Protections issues. The following are some examples that illustrate the well-planned, country-specific expertise that Bank policy specialists provide LAC policy makers.

Jamaica: Social Investment Fund Project
In the 1990s, an estimated 28% percent of Jamaicans lived below the poverty line, and living conditions had been deteriorating due to macroeconomic problems. The Government of Jamaica sought to address the situation through small-scale social investments. From 1996 to 2001, the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) approved a total of 381 sub-projects, including 176 financed by a US$20 million World Bank loan. It is estimated that more than one million Jamaicans benefited directly or indirectly from projects in roads, education, and water and sanitation. In rural areas of Jamaica, where poverty is most prevalent, road projects produced overall reductions in farmers' traveling expenses and times. In addition, nearly 11,000 people - the majority of whom are from rural communities with limited or no access to potable water - benefited from improvements in primary water sources.

Peru: Programmatic Social Reform Loan II
The second programmatic social reform loan (PSRL) highlights the important role civil society can play in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of social protection programs. Supported by a US$100 million loan from the World Bank, the objective of the PRSL was to achieve greater stability, efficiency, and transparency of social expenditures; while increasing the participation of civil society in the allocation and control of these expenditures. Under the program, food distribution programs were consolidated, the public pension program was strengthened, and some expenditures for defense and internal security were redirected toward education, health, social protection, and rural infrastructure programs. In addition, an emergency workfare employment program that was launched under the PRSL led to the creation of some 127, 000 short-term jobs.

Argentina: Third Social Protection Program (Trabajar)
In 1998, the World Bank approved a US$284 million loan to finance the third phase of the Trabajar program. Upon completion of the project in 2002, the workfare program had generated 464,102 temporary jobs for poor, unemployed workers and financed about 26,500 small projects. Workers received an initial monthly wage of 200 Argentine pesos, which over time was reduced to 160 Argentine pesos. The projects, which on average operated on a budget of less than $100,000 and employed around twenty people, focused on urban roads (23%), sewerage and drainage (15%), housing and social assistance infrastructure (each accounting for about 10%), schools and secondary roads (each for about 8%), and community gardens and potable water (each accounting for about 5%). For more information on the program, please see Income Gains to the Poor from Workfare: Estimates for Argentina's Trabajar Program

Ecuador Social Development Project: Education and Training
This US$89 million loan, approved in 1991, was designed to improve the quality and administration of basic education and vocational training services for the poor in Ecuador. Financing from the project was used to provide 270,000 children in marginal urban areas with improved access to primary education. In addition, 4,300 children benefited from access to pre-primary education, 6,500 students gained access to lower secondary education (grades 7-9), and 5,500 teachers benefited from improved physical conditions (infrastructure, sanitary facilities and furniture), textbooks, workbooks, teachers' guides, reading books and other learning materials.

Mexico Labor Market and Productivity Enhancement Project
The $174 million adjustment project, approved in 1992, provided support for labor force modernization while facilitating employment of hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers during the country's economic crisis in the mid-90s. After the project was completed in 1998, nearly 1.5 million workers benefited from 120,000 training and ancillary events. The project also developed information systems, strengthened administration in the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare, and promoted labor related studies and research within the academic community.