Inter-American Cooperation Network for Social Protection Transfer of Chile’s Puente Program to the Caribbean Francisco Pilotti, Director Department of Social Development and Employment Port of Spain, September , 2008

Mandates Millennium Development Goal No. 1: –Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger IV Summit of the Americas: –Identify and exchange, within the framework of the OAS, practices in the region regarding policies and programs to confront poverty. I Meeting of Ministers and High-Level Authorities of Social Development –Foster the establishment of an Inter-American Social Protection Network

Selection Criteria Effective reduction of extreme poverty Effective reduction of inequality Effective targeting aimed at the poorest Redistributive Impact – Progressiveness Consolidated programs

Conditional Cash Transfers They meet the established criteria They attack the reproduction of intergenerational poverty The family as a unit of intervention: delivery of integrated services Participation of local governments Empowerment of citizens User satisfaction

The Puente Program Established in 2002, the Program focuses on the family as the unit of intervention. During 24 months, Puente seeks to empower the family in order to improve its quality of life in seven dimensions: –Health –Education –Civil Registry (Identification) –Housing –Employment –Family Dynamics –Income Generation

Achievements of the Chile Puente Program Five years of implementation Coverage:270,000 families High impact on poverty reduction during according to World Bank Positive evaluation by ECLAC International interest in general and by the Caribbean in particular Source: CASEN

Strategic Alliance FOSIS - MIDEPLAN Ministry of Social Development, Trinidad & Tobago Ministry of Social Transformation and the Poverty Reduction Fund of St. Lucia Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund University of the West Indies CIDA – Canada Government of Chile

The Puente Approach Psychosocial Support and Subsidies Families in extreme poverty Autonomous families with access to protection networks Follow-Up 24 months Toolkit: what’s inside? Can the contents be shared?

Unpacking the Contents of the Toolkit Political and Policy dimensions Institutional Framework Targeting Techniques Family Intervention Techniques

DSDE Approach to Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening Main components of the Horizontal Cooperation Strategy –Critical transfer of knowledge, skills, and lessons learned Seeks relevance Discards the simple replica of a model Facilitates the comparative approach Ensures mutual learning Emphasizes knowledge over mere information –Combines educational, traditional, and virtual approaches –Permanent connectivity –Network management –Academic support

Building a Bridge for the Puente Critical Transfer must take into account differences such as: –Legal –Administrative –Cultural/Linguistic –Family Dynamics –Service Delivery –Other Variables Migration HIV/AIDS Bridging Puente

Main Activities 2007 –Formation of task force –Launching workshop, Kingston –Website –Internship, Chile –National work plans 2008 –Monitoring by FOSIS tutors in the Caribbean –Evaluation of achievements, Trinidad y Tobago, September –Results presented at Conference for CARICOM countries, September –Incorporation of 3 new countries into the Program

Lessons for the Inter-American Cooperation Relevance and pertinence: We must consider and value the realities of the countries involved when designing the programs so that they are relevant and pertinent Short-term value - Solutions to contingent problems Long-term value - Formation and systematization of a knowledge base An effective communication and participation strategy is important for ensuring the support of local partners Political will is essential for the success of programs of this nature

Caribbean Conference: Exploring the expansion of the Puente to other countries Background and regional context Progress report from the four countries, UWI and the Secretariat –Political and policy dimensions –Institutional challenges –Local applications of the Puente model Feedback and charting the way forward