Publication: Poverty in Mexico : An Assessment of Conditions, Trends, and Government Strategy
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2004-06-01
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2013-06-10
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This report presents the results of an assessment of poverty conditions in Mexico, and of the Government strategies to reduce poverty. It constitutes the first phase of a longer-term work program on poverty reduction in Mexico that the Bank is undertaking in collaboration with the Government during the period 2003-2006. The current situation in the country is mixed, with respect to poverty. In terms of well-being, Mexico has experienced major progress in some dimensions - notably related to basic service access - but much weaker progress on others - notably on the income of the poor. Despite the gains between 1996 and 2002, and in particular, for the extreme poor, poverty remains widespread, and is only slightly below the levels prevailing before the 1994-1995 crisis. The report relates to government strategy, and its strengths. The CONTIGO framework is excellent as a conceptual framework, especially in its attempt to integrate the multiple dimensions of well-being, and public action into a life-cycle approach. There are notable successes in specific programs -with "Oportunidades" (i.e., "Opportunities ") unusual in its combination of highly effective targeting, and broad reach amongst the extreme poor. The emphasis on evaluation is commendable, while the recent introduction of the Ley de Desarrollo Social (Social Development Law) is a potentially valuable attempt to institutionalize the social development strategy, and in particular, provide more continuity across government administrations. But challenges still remain. The quality of services is a major issue in many sectors, for although social policies for the extreme poor are well developed, policies for their income growth are not. There is a broader pending agenda for the moderate poor, especially with respect to improving the productivity of the self-employed and informal enterprises. Most of the extreme and moderate poor fall outside the formal social protection system, and face significant risks, i.e., health, unemployment or lack of income in old age. And there are a wide range of institutional issues to be tackled - from strengthening accountability, especially under decentralized structures, to social incorporation of excluded groups - as well as linking of rigorous evaluation to results-based management.
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“World Bank. 2004. Poverty in Mexico : An Assessment of Conditions, Trends, and Government Strategy. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13829 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Poverty in Mexico : An Assessment of Conditions, Trends, and Government Strategy(Washington, DC, 2004-06)This report presents the results of an assessment of poverty conditions in Mexico, and the Government strategies to reduce poverty. It constitutes the first phase of a longer-term work program on poverty reduction in Mexico, that the Bank is undertaking, in collaboration with the Government during the period 2003-2006. The current situation in the country is mixed, with respect to poverty. In terms of well-being, Mexico has experienced major progress in some dimensions - notably related to basic service access - but much weaker progress on others - notably on the income of the poor. Despite the gains between 1996 and 2002,and in particular, for the extreme poor, poverty remains widespread, and is only slightly below the levels prevailing before the 1994195 crisis. The report relates to government strategy, and its strengths. The CONTIGO framework is excellent as a conceptual framework, especially in its attempt to integrate the multiple dimensions of well-being, and public action into a life-cycle approach. There are notable successes in specific programs -with "Oportunidades" (i.e., "Opportunities") unusual in its combination of highly effective targeting, and broad reach amongst the extreme poor. The emphasis on evaluation is commendable, while the recent introduction of the Ley de Desarrollo Social (Social Development Law) is a potentially valuable attempt to institutionalize the social development strategy, and in particular, provide more continuity across government administrations. But challenges still remain. The quality of services is a major issue in many sectors, for although social policies for the extreme poor are well developed, policies for their income growth are not. There is a broader pending agenda for the moderate poor, especially with respect to improving the productivity of the self-employed, and informal enterprises. Most of the extreme and moderate poor fall outside the formal social protection system, and face significant risks, i.e., health, unemployment or lack of income in old age. And there are a wide range of institutional issues to be tackled - from strengthening accountability, especially under decentralized structures, to social incorporation of excluded groups - as well as linking of rigorous evaluation to results-based management. Section A of the report discusses poverty conditions, Section B reviews government strategy, and, Section C provides brief concluding comments on public action, and future analysis.Publication Poverty in Mexico : An Assessment of Conditions, Trends and Government Strategy(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-01)In 2002, half of Mexico's population lived in poverty and one fifth in extreme poverty, slightly lower than before the 1994-1995 crisis. Mexico has made major progress in some poverty dimensions -health, nutrition and education outcomes, access to basic health and education services, electricity, water and (to a lesser extent) sanitation. Large increases in government spending enabled key social programs to expand. 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Thus the report proposes complementary efforts in four areas: achieving a more equitable pattern of income and job growth; continuing and deepening the effort to get equitable skills development; use of redistributuve transfers for the poor and indigent, as a means of complementing human capital development; and strengthening institutional change, especially at the municipal level.Publication The Living Conditions of Children(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-06)This paper summarizes the socioeconomic conditions of children around the world. It explores solutions to the main problems, along with a summary of the costs and benefits of some of the solutions. Emphasis is on the results from rigorous studies, impact evaluations, and randomized experiments. Although the cost-evidence literature is scarce, a good case for early interventions and key quality-enhancing education interventions exists.
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As the development community shifts its focus away from projects in order to comprehensively address country challenges, development evaluators are seeking methods with which to assess results at the country, sector, theme, policy, and even global levels. As the development community recognizes the importance of not only a comprehensive but also a coordinated approach to developing country challenges and emphasizes partnerships, development evaluators are increasingly engaged in joint evaluations. These joint evaluations, while advantageous in many respects, add to the complexity of development evaluation (OECD 2006). Additionally, development evaluators increasingly face the measurement challenge of determining the performance of an individual development organization in this broader context and of identifying its contribution. This text is intended as a tool for use in building development evaluation capacity. 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