Nine Mi Familia Progresa: change and continuity in Guatemala’s social policy
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Elena Gaia
Abstract
This chapter provides an appraisal of a significant policy innovation in a developing country, Guatemala. It provides a detailed analysis of the design and implementation of Guatemala’s CCT (conditional cash transfer) programme, Mi Familia Progresa. It observes that while the programme is the first that has been deliberately targeted at the poorest sectors of the population, thereby mitigating the regressive nature of previously existing social policy, and the chapter concludes that there is more continuity with previous residual approaches than there is change. It provides an important contribution to the understanding of the challenges of developing effective social policies in countries like Guatemala, where extreme poverty and inequality often exist alongside entrenched power differentials in a context of economic under-development.
Abstract
This chapter provides an appraisal of a significant policy innovation in a developing country, Guatemala. It provides a detailed analysis of the design and implementation of Guatemala’s CCT (conditional cash transfer) programme, Mi Familia Progresa. It observes that while the programme is the first that has been deliberately targeted at the poorest sectors of the population, thereby mitigating the regressive nature of previously existing social policy, and the chapter concludes that there is more continuity with previous residual approaches than there is change. It provides an important contribution to the understanding of the challenges of developing effective social policies in countries like Guatemala, where extreme poverty and inequality often exist alongside entrenched power differentials in a context of economic under-development.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures v
- List on contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
Current developments
- Education policy and policy making, 1997–2009 13
- Children’s social care under New Labour 31
- Health policy under New Labour: not what it seems? 51
- Towards a social democratic pension system? Assessing the significance of the 2007 and 2008 Pensions Acts1 71
- Minimum income standards and household budgets 97
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Current issues and debates
- Re-connecting with ‘what unemployment means’: employability, the experience of unemployment and priorities for policy in an era of crisis 121
- Facing the ‘dark side’ of deregulation? The politics of two-tier labour markets in Germany and Japan after the global financial crisis 149
- ‘Flexibility’, xenophobia and exploitation: modern slavery in the UK 173
- Mi Familia Progresa: change and continuity in Guatemala’s social policy 199
-
Service user involvement
- Service users and social policy: developing different discussions, challenging dominant discourses 227
- Participation and social justice 253
- Involving disabled children and young people in research and consultations: issues, challenges and opportunities 275
- Responding to unhappy childhoods in the UK: enhancing young people’s ‘well-being’ through participatory action research 291
- Service users as peer research interviewers: why bother? 317
- Index 337
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures v
- List on contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
Current developments
- Education policy and policy making, 1997–2009 13
- Children’s social care under New Labour 31
- Health policy under New Labour: not what it seems? 51
- Towards a social democratic pension system? Assessing the significance of the 2007 and 2008 Pensions Acts1 71
- Minimum income standards and household budgets 97
-
Current issues and debates
- Re-connecting with ‘what unemployment means’: employability, the experience of unemployment and priorities for policy in an era of crisis 121
- Facing the ‘dark side’ of deregulation? The politics of two-tier labour markets in Germany and Japan after the global financial crisis 149
- ‘Flexibility’, xenophobia and exploitation: modern slavery in the UK 173
- Mi Familia Progresa: change and continuity in Guatemala’s social policy 199
-
Service user involvement
- Service users and social policy: developing different discussions, challenging dominant discourses 227
- Participation and social justice 253
- Involving disabled children and young people in research and consultations: issues, challenges and opportunities 275
- Responding to unhappy childhoods in the UK: enhancing young people’s ‘well-being’ through participatory action research 291
- Service users as peer research interviewers: why bother? 317
- Index 337
