Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Human Development in Latin America Harry Anthony Patrinos World Bank February 9, 2007 Georgetown University Washington, DC

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 2 Context UN Decade of Indigenous Peoples Indigenous gains in political influence –Upheavals: Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia –Indigenous political representation increasing Changes in international & national policy

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 3 Good news: the education gap has been narrowing steadily Percent of population that had some schooling Peru by birth cohort, (% of population with some schooling) Indigenous Non-indigenous Lines are logarithmic estimates of trends

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 4 But indigenous people still have fewer years of education…

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 5 … and receive less added income for each year of education

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 6 Evidence of labor market discrimination is still significant

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 7 Low tests scores for indigenous children suggest low quality schooling

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 8 Some new and successful social programs reach indigenous peoples Mexico: portion of indigenous/non-indigenous peoples in income quintile that benefit from Oportunidades conditional cash transfers

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 9 But social insurance systems cover fewer indigenous peoples Percent of workers in firms with 10+ employees who contribute to social security, Guatemala 2000

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 10 Evidence of poor health among indigenous peoples is widespread

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 11 Little progress in income poverty reduction for indigenous people

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 12 Indigenous people also recover more slowly from economic crisis

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 13 Four priority areas for action More and better education –Decrease gap in years of schooling –Improve school quality (bilingual/bicultural education) Promote equal opportunities – “head start” for indigenous –Maternal and child health projects Improve accountability in delivery of social services Improve data collection efforts –Include identification questions for indigenous

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 14 Moving beyond poverty & human development Link between indigenous & poverty established Poverty has not diminished over time  But need to move beyond human development Need to examine distribution & returns to income generating assets (physical, human, public, social capital)

Harry Anthony Patrinos, World Bank 15 Objectives of new study Economic Opportunities for Indigenous Peoples in Latin America 1.Examine composition of income and income- generating activities of indigenous 2.Investigate factors determining participation of indigenous in income-generating activities 3.Identify key features of policies & programs to increase economic opportunities