Peru gives its poor more money, but there's a catch
Alfonso Velasquez is leading a new antipoverty initiative that turns the adage "if you teach a man to fish ..." on its head.
The government program in Peru known as Juntos (Together) will give $30 a month in cash to the poorest families - often doubling their income, but only if they meet certain criteria, including enrolling their children in school and providing basic healthcare.
Juntos is the latest in a wave of "conditional cash transfer" programs (CCTs) sweeping Latin America as a new model for addressing the needs of the continent's downtrodden. "Traditional programs could offer schooling or healthcare, but there was no incentive to the beneficiaries to use the programs. In a CCT program, education or maternal health, for example, are not only offered but required," says Cesar Bouillon of the Inter-American Development Bank's Poverty and Inequality Unit.
Peru's Juntos was formally launched in mid-September in the district of Chuschi, in the central highlands, and by the end of the year should reach 98,000 families, or 400,000 people, in 60 other districts. The goal is to double the program's reach in the coming year and continue expanding until it is implemented in rural districts and some inner-city neighborhoods nationwide.
To be eligible for Juntos, a family must have children under the age of 14 and live in a community where at least two basic needs - running water, electricity, schools, health services - are unmet. Families receiving the cash in Peru must enroll their children in schools and ensure that they are vaccinated. Pregnant mothers must take part in pre-natal care programs and post-natal controls. In addition, the adults must have national identification cards and make sure that their children have birth certificates.
As long as they meet the conditions, families will be eligible for the stipend for up to eight years. They can receive the full $30 a month for the first four years and will be slowly weaned off the program over the final four years.
"While $30 does not seem like much, we are basically doubling the income of families in these districts. Many of women who received the money had never held $30 in their hands at one time," said Mr. Velasquez.
The first recipients of Juntos had a number of plans for the cash. Some said they would buy food, while others had their attention focused on clothes or purchasing farm animals to start a business.
"I am going to use this money to buy food and jackets for my children," announced Angelina Tomaylla, a young mother of two. She was the first woman in Chuschi to receive the stipend from Velasquez at the Sept. 17 inaugural ceremony. Women, whether married or single mothers, sign the contracts with the government, because they tend to remain in communities while men move for work. Plus, research has found that women are more likely to invest the money in the family's well-being and children's education.
If implemented as planned, the program should cover about half of the estimated 2.5 million living in absolute poverty, which the government defines as a family of four getting by on $1 or less daily. But Velasquez says the stipend is just a means to getting Peru out of the poor-nation category by 2021, when the country celebrates its bicentennial.
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