The Institutional Framework for the Chilean Social Protection System and its Components

 The Origin of Chile Solidario Background and significant events that have marked the configuration of the Social Protection System

There was a need to reorient the strategies to combat poverty and a stagnation in the poverty reduction (to around 5.7%) that occurred from 1996 on. Poverty figures data from the year 2000 were analyzed in order to rethink the strategy of targeting areas of extreme poverty. The perceived benefits were more widely and more intensively with the poor but not indigent families, than with the indigent or extremely poor. The design of the public service offer was based on a structured model oriented towards an expected demand, and assuming that those who did not demand these services and benefits did not require them. Background:

State social benefits to the poorest were delivered on the basis of demand for public services, making access dependent on the availability of information on existing resources. Effective demand only occurred to the extent that individuals and families had some degree of linkage with the institutional networks and / or community. One of the critical factors of exclusion of people in extreme poverty was their isolation and the lack of information and linking to the existing networks. Therefore, those who most needed these benefits were those who accessed to them in a lesser extent. Background:

The focus of intervention around which benefits of the State traditionally had been organized were individuals, not families, which generated significant levels of dispersion in the provision of services and benefits. Complementarities were hardly achieved, and there was no integration device that allowed to synchronize the provision of benefits and social services. It was necessary to have a better distribution of resources, to strengthen local public institutions, to better guide the work of local social services, and to incorporate working strategies that focused not in institutions but in individuals. Background:

This background led to the decision to give priority to addressing extreme poverty and evaluate various alternatives for the establishment of an institutional mechanism to coordinate the available services and benefits, targeting the group of extremely poor. On May 21, 2002, in its annual public account, the Chilean President Ricardo Lagos announced the Government's will in overcoming the extreme poverty in which were living the 225,000 poorest families of the country.

The Social Protection System Chile Solidario was designed under the coordination of the Ministry of Planning and in order to provide psychosocial support to each family and to secure preferential access to cash subsidies and governmental social promotion programs. The implementation of the psychosocial component was entrusted to FOSIS and the Bridge Program. At that moment, Bridge was being implemented as a pilot program in the Chilean Regions of Antofagasta, Maule and Magallanes, and the Metropolitan Region. Chile Solidario became a coordination device of transitory character, organizing the public offer for family support, safeguarding the guaranteed subsidies and encouraging the local installation of the system.

Implementation of a new targeting model Identification and selection of beneficiaries based on their classification through a socio-economic characterization survey Generation of a co-responsibility framework with the beneficiaries to achieve their commitment during the process Sharing contract in which families are informed about the process and formally commit their participation, recognizing the enforceability of mutual commitments. Availability of a case worker who accompanies the families during the process and links them to the local networks. Psychosocial support by the provision of a social worker who works directly with the families: the Family Support Counselor. What were the needsWhat offered Chile Solidario

Reorganization of the existing resources through targeting the most vulnerable families. Coordination of the public offer in order to match the same set of users simultaneously. Definition of objective common goals for the institutions and their clients. 53 minimum conditions for quality of life in seven dimensions: identification, education, health, housing, work and income, which represent the real existing demand. The coverage of these demand is assumed as the basic threshold of Social Protection. Provision of a basic support which enables beneficiaries to function within the system. Protection voucher; direct cash transfer delivered during 24 months and with a decreasing value. What were the needsWhat offered Chile Solidario

Guarantee of monetary subsidies for those who cannot generate income autonomously. Guaranteed subsidies (cash transfers) in situations of extreme vulnerability / enabling participation in the existing system of opportunities. Increasing opportunities available in the existing institutional network of local territories. Local intervention networks coordinated by the municipalities that allow more flexible arrangements for access to programs and services or adaptation of the services to the needs of the clients. Offer of an appropriate information management to operate the Social Protection System. Integrated System of Social Information for recording demands, formulating requirements and managing territorial provision of services. What were the needsWhat offered Chile Solidario

The Chilean Law N° from June 5, 2004 establishes a Social Protection System for families living in conditions of extreme poverty: Chile Solidario finally creates a legal framework for an initiative that was being developed from the year 2002 on. Article 1 from the Law says that “a Protection System named Chile Solidario is to be established”. This system is oriented to families in extreme poverty and its goal is to strengthen their incorporation into the social networks and to give them access to a better quality of life.

 Expansion and Strengthening of the Social Protection System Consolidation of programs and devices to support the operation of the system

“We want to improve the quality of education and reinforce the reform of Public Health as well as the quality of housing with a new housing policy. And we want that these policies are not individual, separated one from the other, but articulated in a Social Protection System capable of opening opportunities and limit risks to those who are unable to protect themselves by their own means. There is no democracy or advanced country in the developed world that does not have a good system of social protection.” President Michelle Bachelet (December 2006)

Institutionalization of the Vulnerability Approach Changes in the targeting instruments through the new Social Protection Record

The emphasis of the Social Protection System is to be proactive regarding the risks families are facing. It means also be able to activate a universal social benefits in case of events of vulnerability. This is compounded by the obsolescence of the targeting instrument being used, the so called Ficha CAS II, which did not allow to discriminate or recognize different situations of vulnerability. The Ficha CAS II was inspired by the concept of unsatisfied needs and represented a static notion of poverty, mean while what was required was to identify and characterize families in situation of vulnerability. Background:

In this new instrument, data is collected and analyzed from a basic unit which is the family: “Persons or set of people with or without kinship bonds, that reside in the same household and share the feeding budget”. It considers the capacity of income generation of the members of the family in age to work. It conceives education as part of a set of relevant variables that allow to characterize the generating capacity of income generation. It captures information on degrees of difficulty to exert basic functions. It identifies people with self valence problems and/or degrees of dependency. It identifies pregnancy, chronic diseases, problematic alcohol or drug consumption and severe psychiatric upheavals. The Social Protection Record

New Pillars of the Chilean Social Protection Policy Strengthening of the institutions that provide social protection and integrated operation of their components 

Apoyo Psicosocial Oferta Programática Components of the Chilean Social Protection System

Extension of Psychosocial Support Programs Generation of specific alternatives in order to work with new users of the Social Protection System 

Solidarity Social Protection in Situations of Vulnerability (Chile Solidario) Labor Protection (Contribution Reform) Infant Protection (Chile Grows with You) Social Protection Policy For families living in extreme poverty Bridge Program For elderly persons that live alone Ties Program For homeless people Street Program For children living in families with an adult in prison Roads Program

 Expansion of Social Protection Extension of guarantees, coverage and services in a framework of enhancing the local institutional competencies to operate the System

Permanent Social Protection The service network of the State must be capable of ensuring answers timely and appropriately to persons covered by Social Protection System, depending on the life cycle they are going through. Thus, the guarantees will be extended to two priority groups: boys and girls up to their higher education cycle, and older adults.

What does the Social Protection System mean for our Government? A management model constituted by the actions and benefits that are coordinated by diverse sectors and implemented by various state agencies for the most vulnerable population. This population segment requires a concerted action by the agencies to promote access to improved living conditions. The system is composed of subsystems that are all the actions and benefits intersectorally executed and coordinated by various state agencies, targeted to one group of people or families (or both) in a situation of socio- economic vulnerability.

The System provides support to families facing critical situations (unemployment, sickness, disability, old age, poverty). And empowers people to fulfill the duties of each of the stages in their life cycle. Changing conditions of their environment (expanding opportunity structures and making them accessible). With a potential universal coverage but with distinct mechanisms of access and service provision. Acting in the local territory in order to correct inequities that affect the welfare of individuals and communities. Addressing the specific conditions that explain the vulnerability of people. Briefly, this means:

The System works, if the users succeed in.... Using the service when they really require it (Opportunity) Receiving enough support for their request (Sufficiency) Accessing easily to the service delivery and obtaining clarity in its benefits and other aspects to facilitate its acquisition and understanding (Accessibility) Getting a good treatment when they use the services or obtain information (Inclusion) Receiving appropriate services for their specific requirements (Appropriateness) Getting services that are really useful for them (Effectiveness)

Thank you very much!