Publication: Ecuador : Crisis, Poverty and Social Services, Volume 1. Main Document
Loading...
Published
2000-06-26
ISSN
Date
2013-08-15
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Over the past decade, Ecuador has suffered natural disasters, political instability, and financial crises. These events have occurred in the context of already low economic growth and high income inequality and poverty and have exposed the poor to the risk of irreversible losses of assets, including human capital. This paper updates our knowledge of poverty in Ecuador. Chapter 1 describes the high poverty and income inequality in Ecuador, and how both poverty and inequality have been increasing in recent years. Chapter 2 describes the current crisis, the effect of the crisis on the poor and the near-poor, and Government stabilization in response to the crisis. Chapter 3 focuses on the provision of basic public services of nutrition, health, and education to the poor. Chapter 4 reviews those public sector programs specifically targeted on the poor. It begins with the Bono Solidario, and then reviews programs that benefit each of the especially vulnerable groups among the poor. It ends with an assessment of social infrastructure program which have the potential to generate employment. Chapter 5 examines policy options to provide income support, to prevent irreversible physical and mental losses and losses in human capital. Finally, Chapter 6 estimates the cost of implementing the strategy discussed in the previous chapters, and assesses the possibilities of financing the strategy within the Government's expected social sector resource envelope.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2000. Ecuador : Crisis, Poverty and Social Services, Volume 1. Main Document. Public expenditure review (PER);. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15104 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Examining Conditional Cash Transfer Programs : A Role for Increased Social Inclusion?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-06)Conditional Cash Transfer programs (CCTs) provide money to poor families contingent upon certain verifiable actions, generally minimum investments in children s human capital such as regular school attendance or basic preventative health care. They therefore hold promise for addressing the inter-generational transmission of poverty and fostering social inclusion by explicitly targeting the poor, focusing on children, delivering transfers to women, and changing social accountability relationships between beneficiaries, service providers and governments. CCT programs are at the forefront of applying new social policy theories and program administration practices. They address demand-side barriers, have a synergistic focus on investments in health, education and nutrition, and combine short-term transfers for income support with incentives for long-run investments in human capital. They also are public sector leaders in program administration, using modern targeting, registering, and monitoring systems along with strategic evaluations. Their impact depends on the supply of quality, accessible health and education services and may increase with strengthened links to the labor market, and a greater focus on early childhood and transient support to households facing shocks. CCT programs are facing a number of challenges as they evolve, from reaching vulnerable groups to fostering transparency and accountability, especially at the community level. Centralized programs have been criticized for limiting the engagement of local governments and civil society and it is clear that in limited capacity environments, a greater reliance on communities is warranted. In sum, though promising, these programs are not a panacea against social exclusion and should form part of comprehensive social and economic policy strategies and be applied carefully in different policy contexts.Publication Mozambique Social Protection Assessment(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-10)This assessment shows that Mozambique social protection system is developing. While programs to address most of the risks identified exist, there are still major gaps. Poor families with children are not adequately supported, there is no significant youth program, and subsistence farmers and other workers are not properly protected against recurrent shocks. The government spends a considerable amount of its resources on social protection but most are absorbed by untargeted subsidies and pensions that benefit only a few. This assessment suggests that it will be necessary to address three mutually complimentary issues: developing effective mechanisms to maximize the impact of social protection on reducing poverty; rationalizing public expenditures while filling existing program gaps; and strengthening institutional arrangements. In order to address the multiple challenges Mozambique faces to support particularly vulnerable groups and reduce extreme poverty and food insecurity, the report proposes a gradual approach framed in the existing social protection strategy approved by the Government in 2010.Publication Madagascar - Three Years into the Crisis : An Assessment of Vulnerability and Social Policies and Prospects for the Future, Volume 1. Main Report(Washington, DC, 2012-05)The report is divided into two volumes. The first volume includes the fundamental content of the report. It is organized as follows. Chapter one provides a conceptual framework to analyze risk and vulnerability and provides a definition of social protection. Chapter two assesses the main risks faced by the Malagasy population as well as its vulnerability profile. Chapter three reviews Madagascar's social protection policies, the institutions responsible for social protection and the financial resources allocated to social protection by the government, donors and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Chapter four proceeds with a description and analysis of the main social protection programs presently under implementation in Madagascar. Chapter five builds on the previous chapters but also on the experience of other low income countries, especially in Africa. It outlines the main principles of a social protection strategy and recommends priority actions for implementation including in the immediate aftermath of a resolution to the current political crisis. As such, this report is intended to contribute to future governments' own formulation and implementation of a social protection strategy. The second volume includes a number of background papers that were commissioned during the preparation of this report. These papers are as follows: strategic directions for social protection in Madagascar by Anthony Hodges; Poverty, Vulnerability and Sources of Risks by Tiaray Razafimanantena; vulnerability analysis by INSTAT; Review of Social Protection Programs by Julia Rachel Ravelosoa; analysis of public spending on social protection in Madagascar by Maminirinarivo Ralaivelo; description and Analysis of the Tsena Mora Program by Maminirinarivo Ralaivelo; review and analysis of spending on social protection by NGOs by Francis Hary Soleman Kone; case study: cash transfer and other forms of education support for children of poor households by Brigitte Lalasoa Randrianasolo and payment mechanisms to transfer cash to the Poor in Madagascar by Josiane Robiarivony Rakotomanga.Publication Madagascar - Three Years into the Crisis : An Assessment of Vulnerability and Social Policies and Prospects for the Future, Volume 2. Background Papers(Washington, DC, 2012-05)The report is divided into two volumes. The first volume includes the fundamental content of the report. It is organized as follows. Chapter one provides a conceptual framework to analyze risk and vulnerability and provides a definition of social protection. Chapter two assesses the main risks faced by the Malagasy population as well as its vulnerability profile. Chapter three reviews Madagascar's social protection policies, the institutions responsible for social protection and the financial resources allocated to social protection by the government, donors and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Chapter four proceeds with a description and analysis of the main social protection programs presently under implementation in Madagascar. Chapter five builds on the previous chapters but also on the experience of other low income countries, especially in Africa. It outlines the main principles of a social protection strategy and recommends priority actions for implementation including in the immediate aftermath of a resolution to the current political crisis. As such, this report is intended to contribute to future governments' own formulation and implementation of a social protection strategy. The second volume includes a number of background papers that were commissioned during the preparation of this report. These papers are as follows: strategic directions for social protection in Madagascar by Anthony Hodges; Poverty, Vulnerability and Sources of Risks by Tiaray Razafimanantena; vulnerability analysis by INSTAT; Review of Social Protection Programs by Julia Rachel Ravelosoa; analysis of public spending on social protection in Madagascar by Maminirinarivo Ralaivelo; description and Analysis of the Tsena Mora Program by Maminirinarivo Ralaivelo; review and analysis of spending on social protection by NGOs by Francis Hary Soleman Kone; case study: cash transfer and other forms of education support for children of poor households by Brigitte Lalasoa Randrianasolo and payment mechanisms to transfer cash to the Poor in Madagascar by Josiane Robiarivony Rakotomanga.Publication Madagascar : Three Years into the Crisis(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-05)Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world and a very high proportion of the population experiences frequent shocks, whether from natural disasters, economic shocks or internal crises of governance. As a consequence, about half the country s population is undernourished. Children between the ages of 6 and 14 face the risks of low human capital development, child labor and marginalization. On the other hand, the Government of Madagascar s commitment to social protection as a national policy was never fully effective. Interventions in social protection have been developed on an ad-hoc basis, often on the initiative of donors. In order to inform the government s policy development, the report proposes a social protection strategy that increases the protection of the population while decreasing its vulnerability, taking into account the existing programs and the differences in exposure to risks between population groups recommendations that emerge from the research.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.