SYSTEMATIZATION REPORT:

Transcription

1 SYSTEMATIZATION REPORT: INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP TRICKLE UP - PROSPERA MÉXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA México, December 2017

2 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP TRICKLE UP - PROSPERA MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA Mexico, December 2017 Workshops sistemtization By: Fernando Herrera Design: Trickle Up Americas Photos by: Trickle Up and PROSPERA Mexico, December

3 Table of Contents Panelists 5 Key Messages 7 Objective 9 Introduction 9 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA Panel # 1: What we do to eradicate poverty 11 Panel # 2: Existing challenges to eradicate poverty 15 Panel # 3: Perspective of development organizations 17 Panel # 4: Accountability 19 Panel # 5: The inclusive scale 21 Conclusions and new ideas for the iprovement of CCT and Social Protection programs 23 Recommendations 25 Annexes 29 3

4 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA 4

5 Panelists Florencia Villalba (Paraguay) She has a Degree in Public Administration, and a Postgraduate Degree in Public Management and Local Development. She has experience in working with municipalities and governorates throughout Paraguay, in several positions within the municipal scope, as well as at Central Government. Since 2014, she has worked in the Technical Secretariat of Planning for Economic and Social Development of the Presidency of the Republic of Paraguay, with the responsibility of the General Directorate for Development and Territorial Planning. Philip Mathew (India) He has a postgraduate degree in Social Work and a diploma in Human Resources Management. Administrative professional with almost 20 years of experience in the implementation of projects and programs of social inclusion and social development, gender, protection and rehabilitation, community development, decentralized planning and local governance, convergence, poverty alleviation and housing projects and livelyhoods with the central government and NGO s. Panel 1 Panel 1 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA Rogelio Omar Grados Zamudio (México) Deputy General Director of the General Directorate of Geostatistic Information, Analysis and Evaluation of PROSPERA. He has a BA and a Master s Degree in Economics and Bachelor of Economics. In 2006 he served as Deputy Director of Follow-up to the External Evaluation. Subsequently, he became the Director of Enlace for the External Evaluation of PROSPERA, and his main activities were the coordination, execution and supervision of studies, advisory services and / or account controls of the programs that are operated by the National Coordination. Panel 1 Julio Manuel Valera Piedras (México) He is General Director of Attention and Operation of PROSPERA. He majored in Law and International Relations, Specialized in Educational Policy and Management and holds a Master Degree in Public Policy. He is also specialized in Social Development Policies and Management. He served for 20 years in various positions for the Ministry of Public Education and was a Delegate of the Secretariat of Public Education in the States of Hidalgo and Tabasco. Panel 2 Alok Kumar (India) Is a Professional with more than 28 years of experience in rural development and the commercial sector. During a large part of his professional career, he participated in the design and implementation of large rural development programs under state government and the government of India with a strong focus on livelihood promotions. His main experience lies in working on an approach driven by the demand of the community. He has demonstrated his experience in the mobilization of the community. Panel 2 Hebe Gómez (Paraguay) She is an Economist, project specialist, with a master s degree in Public Policy. She was the Territorial Coordinator of the Pilot Project Family by Family equivalent to the Graduation program and later coordinated the scaling up to a larger Project with a goal of 10,000 families in extreme poverty. She is currently doing research on new sustainability mechanisms of the Graduation model. Panel 2 Panel 5 Xavier Abreu (México) In 1975 he founded the career of Administration at the Technological Institute of Mérida. In 1985, he founded the first Marketing Consulting Firm. In 1985 he was a federal congressman for Yucatan. He developed the Ejidal Social Project in 1989 and 1990 for the Kelen pork industry. He was a congressman from 1998 to He was mayor of the city of Merida. He served as head of the Program Unit of the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples 2007 to 2009 and Director of Ko ox Taani, Foundation for Development and Social Equity, Ac. Panel 2 5

6 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA Tatiana Rincón (Mexico) Director of the Social Promotion and Livelihoods area at Foundacion Capital. She has more than 15 years of experience in social protection, poverty reduction policies and graduation programs. She obtained a Master s degree in International Relations from Carleton University in Canada and is a professional in Finance and International Relations from Universidad Externado of Colombia. Shee worked with the Carter Center and is a consultant for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (FIDA). Manuel Rabasa Guevara (Mexico) Is the Project manager of Vamos Adelante, from Ko ox taani, AC, in Mayan communities of four municipalities from the center-south of the state of Yucatan. Instructor in the Rural Savings and Credit Project Preparation Workshop of the Inter-American Cooperative Institute in the City of Panama, Panama. Designer and promoter of a municipal self-financing system, based on savings and credit, for Mayan women in the municipalities of Mayapán and Teabo. SEDESO Yucatán. Maitreyee Ghosh (India) Is a Development professional with more than 16 years of experience in the field of poverty. She has a postgraduate degree in Economics with an additional qualification in Management Communication. She currently participates in the management of the poverty reduction program for the PVTG -Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, in Odisha, India, and also provides support to the international program team of Trickle Up. She has more than 10 years of experience in leading program operations and management of NGO partners to work with ultra-poor communities. Efraín Tecu Sarpec (Guatemala) Is a Master s student in Rural Development, by the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, He is an expertise on social inclusion issues and the approach based on rights and sustainable livelihoods. Joined the Trickle Up team since 2012, as Program Manager, with experience working in partnership and alliance with grassroots organizations, foundations, central government institutions, municipalities and different donors in Guatemala and other countries. With more than 20 years of experience in rural development. Panel 3 Panel 3 Panel 3 Panel 3 Jaime Gutierrez Casas (Mexico) He is General Director of Planning and Monitoring of PROSPERA. He has a BA in Administration and another in Political Science and Public Administration. His Master s Degree is in Public Administration. He has worked in different agencies in managerial positions, such as the Ministry of Communications and Transportation, National Bank of Foreign Trade, Rural Finance and the Ministry of Finance for the State of Mexico. He has worked as a columnist in written media. Panel 4 Sheila Duarte (Paraguay) She is a Certified Public Accountant, with a background in Public Contracting, with previous work experience in Accountability at the General Directorate of Statistcs, Surveys and Census. She is currently serving as Chief Financial Auditor of the Technical Secretariat of Planning an Development of the Presidency of the Republic of Paraguay. Panel 4 Sisir Pradhan (India) He has worked in the development sector for more than 21 years in senior management positions, both nationally and internationally. He has managed programs for national, international and governmental agencies in the areas of livelihoods, sanitation, social protection and natural resource management. He has extensive experience in working with rural communities. He currently works as Head of Mission / Team Leader of NRLM -National Rural Livelihood Mission, in Odisha, addressing rural livelihoods focused on women. Panel 5 6

7 Key messages RECURRENT TOPICS Scaling Accountability Seed capital Financial and productive inclusion Social and human capital Gender perspective Poverty definition Attending the ultra poor people Self-esteem and psychological issues Cost-effectiveness INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA TRENDS Growing interaction between social protection programs and other poverty alleviation interventions. Needs for increased coordination among different government agencies within central government. Needs for increased coordination among different government levels: state, municipalities and central. Incorporation of graduation approach in poverty alleviation programs. Incorporation of information and communication technologies on development work and the massive use of mobile devices. 7

8 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA CHALLENGES Measuring impact through the right indicators. Linking beneficiaries within integration on markets and value chains. Soft skills building. Operational cost of programs in particular coaching and handholding components. Achieving and effective and efficient use of resources Social participation mechanisms such as social audits, collectives assemblies, community based organizations. Design of several based interventions: cultural diversity, different geographical settings, linguistic diversity To design interventions addressed to the ultra poor To design interventions addressed to specific segments: disabled people, refugees, victims of climate change, indigenous, women etc. To generate more evidence to favor a better understanding of relevant phases of the projects: design, implementation, evaluation. Political context and the processes and dynamics of the public administration. Better comprehension of the role and characteristics of the social workers is needed. LEARNED LESSONS Personal and direct interaction is the most important element of the work and cannot be replaced by technology. International experience seems to suggest that a handholding period of 6 to 8 years is needed to lead poor people out of poverty. It is necessary to keep an open and critical attitude towards learning. There are no easy or definitive solutions on development work. Evidence can be useful to face political cycles and changes. There are no unique institutional arrangements. Some solutions might work or not in India and other might work or not in Latin America. Nevertheless there are much to learn between these regions. OPPORTUNITIES Use of technology lik e databases, and records or implementing bodies can be useful for evaluations and to favor customized design of programs and interventions. Mobile devices and ICTs can be used to improve implementation. International cooperation can foster learning and implementation processes. 8

9 General Objetive Share experiences, challenges and lessons learned in a round table based on the implementation of policy implementers and poverty reduction programs in Mexico, India, Paraguay and Ecuador including Conditional Cash Transfers, Social Protection and Adaptation of the Graduation Approach. Special attention will be paid to the inclusion of populations with high vulnerability and multiple dimensions of poverty. The deliberations will be shared with the peers taking into account the political aspects and their extensive experience with the communities. Introduction: Why graduation approach matters in poverty eradication? INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA The goal of this international pairing event, was to exchange experiences in poverty eradication strategies, including social and conditional cash transfer programs. The discussions included topics such as graduation approach, achievements and challenges. Since Trickle Up s beginning in the decade of the 1970s, the organization s mission was to generate a sustainable path for poor people to leave behind vulnerability. Today, according to World Bank, there are still 765 million poor people in the world, this number is high, but it represents a 10% reduction from 44% since the work started decades ago. This workshop looked forward to reflect a strong impact on poverty and development efforts: are we optimists or pessimists? Optimists are those who decide to work on development even if tasks are huge. To achieve this goal, collaboration between actors is fundamental. income, savings and foster their self-confidence. International evaluations of GA have provided a positive evidence of increasing in their consumption per capita after 3 years. Savings have also increased and, the most promising outcome suggests that impacts grow and get stronger along the time. These achievements allow families to take risks and think about a different future for themselves. NGOs are taking the leadership in this context, and they are involving governments the more and more. So, NGOs role is related to reinforce government programs. Why does the graduation approach (GA) matters? The GA tackles a series of problems such as food security, limited livelihoods, poor nutrition, and social isolation of populations that traditionally have been underserved. GA is a part of a holistic approach. Evidence have demonstrated that microfinance and livelihoods approaches did not work with extremely poor people. The goal is to graduate people, so it means that they can reach a sustainable livelihood to leave poverty behind and to take them out form social protection programs. The main expected achieves are food security, diversified 9

10 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA 10

11 PANEL # 1: What we do to eradicate poverty? Participants: Florencia Villalba (Paraguay), General Director of Development and Urban Affairs from government of Paraguay. Philip Mathiew (India) Expert in social development. Rogelio Grados (Mexico) Director of External Evaluation at the National Coordination of PROSPERA. Discussion: which are the main social protection and poverty allocation programs in Mexico, Paraguay and India? What is their development level in terms of implementation? What kind of components do they include? Social programs in Paraguay: learned lessons By: Florencia Villalba INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA Paraguay s Social Policy is framed by the 2030 National Development Plan. It represents the central government s proposal to create a country with equal opportunities for all. This is a strategic document that defines the actions to be implemented by different government levels and for all the stakeholders. The Technical Secretariat of the Social Development Plan is the institution in charge of the poverty alleviation programs. During last 15 years, Paraguay has managed to reduce the poverty. To date, 22.2% of the population is poor and of 10% from these, are extreme poor, 71.8% are living in rural areas. 687, 000 people in the country cannot afford the basic food basket (minimum family meals budget). Sembrando Oportunidades is the national strategy to fight poverty. Its goal is to raise the incomes of poor families and allow them to get access to basic services. The main components of the program are: targeting, productive inclusion, consumption support, better coordination within the public offer of services, technical training, handholding for families, territorial focus and infrastructure, effective supervision. In this context the Mesa de Sembrando Oportunidades was created, as an inter-institutional coordination board that gathers public and private actors. As for the Cash Conditional Transferences, CCT in Paraguay, they began in 2000 under the jurisdiction of the Social Action Secretariat. Paraguay has three CCT programs: 1) Abrazos : aimed to attend children and adolescents. 2) Tecomuná : this program s purpose is to break intergenerational poverty cycle through monetary transfer and human capital investments. 3) Adultos mayores. Since 2009, poor elder people get a monetary transfer. There are other programs: Programa Familia x Familia : implemented by Fundación Capital, the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional, and the government of Paraguay. The program includes financial inclusion and capacity-building components. It offers a set of public goods and services for extreme poverty families. It promotes organization of supporting groups along with workshops and motivational meetings offered by social workers. Programa PCSAN : this program includes a graduation approach. It does not offer seed capital for families. It offers seeds for self-consumption particularly for the indigenous families. There are 3000 beneficiary families today. The program is implemented with the support of Trickle Up. What are the main outcomes? What are the main lessons of Familia x Familias (pilot program)? Accountability: with the use of ICTs and other mechanisms such as the Ficha Social, a format that collects data from families, they have managed to attend to the most vulnerable families and monitor the use of resources. Use of technology: this has been useful for capacity building and also for monitoring families. Another lesson is the adaptation to guarani language and traditions. The outcome is that women develop self-esteem and their capacity to socialize with other people. For these families, the fact of receiving seed capital in cash represents a factor of dignity. In conclusion: this project has produced positive externalities among beneficiaries, social workers and society as a whole. There is a sense of certainty that we are following the right path, and we have noticed an attitud change while families are generating their own progress. This is a change of paradigm in public policy in Paraguay. 11

12 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA Social programs in India: building from the communities By: Philip Mathiew The purpose of India s program is to offer financial support and to guarantee respect for rights of population. It aims to include all rural households: a target population of 88.5 million families. It offers long-term handholding to overcome poverty. The goal is that beneficiaries would live with dignity and reach self-sufficience. To date, there are 44 million households that are organized in 3.37 million savings support groups. Each group has 5 to 10 members. We work also with 150,000 best practitioners from the communities. There is a specific budget for this program. Some of the components of the program include: savings groups, housing, health, education, government support, sanitation (a major challenge), animals, social security, capacity building, transport (another major challenge in the rural areas), credit. generate a dynamic circle with the provision of services, community participation and governance. They seek to foster agency for women and children. The main components of the program are: 1. Saturation approach. 2. Self-sufficient and sustainable institutions for the poor. Social organization. Clusters, federations. 3. Long-term handholding and coaching for families (6 to 5 years). 4. Capacity building 5. Financial services for the poor 6. Diversified and sustainable livelihoods for the poor Some recommendations: regarding targeting, we must include the poorer of the poor. Continuous handholding. To include in the planning process community participation and convergence. To privilege bottom-up approach. How to accomplish all of this? They are currently in the process of creating institutions. Organizations within the communities. These community organizations are then grouped in clusters to build a bigger network. They aim to Some challenges: the acceptance Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), building sustainable institutions, getting funding from banks and finding an equilibrium between market trends at the families conditions. Mexico: a new definition of poverty and efforts for a more effective inter-agencies cooperation By: Rogelio Grados 12 In 2010, the Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política Social (CONEVAL), a government body created in 2007, developed a new official methodology to measure poverty. In the past, there were three income levels that defined poverty. Today, poverty is measured from a multidimensional perspective considering 6 people s social lacks besides their income; so, these are the poverty categories: a) extreme poverty, b) moderated poverty, c) vulnerable with needs d) income vulnerability, e) neither poor nor vulnerable. Strategic goal is to lead the population to the level of neither poor nor vulnerable. PROSPERA is aimed to those people below the minimal wellbeing level. This is the main inclusion criteria. The permanence criteria are defined by the income level, which must not exceed the minimal threshold to remain a beneficiary of the program. PROSPERA was launched in 1997 considering the structural poverty notions. The main idea behind this approach was to deal with intergenerational poverty that was a result of low levels of human capital (Education, Nutrition and Health). Since its arrival in 2012, the current federal administration, considered that the previous approach had achieved acceptable outcomes, but on the other hand, there was also room for improvements. Human capital investments were not producing better incomes or more participation in productive activities for households. This forced us to reflect: should we keep blaming poverty solely on contextual or structural issues? The proposed solution was the PROSPERA program. The objective was to maintain the human capital investments, but in addition, to establish linkages with programs of other public bodies of the federal administration, particularly those related to labor market inclusion or productive activities. What is new with PROSPERA? The institutional coordination component: there are 4 schemes. Productive inclusion, labor market inclusion, social inclusion and financial inclusion. Not all families are eligible for all the schemes: it depends on the needs of the household. They are currently in the process of having conversations with other government bodies. It is within this context that we consider there is room to implement a graduation model or graduation models in plural. PROSPERA coverage is 100% of the territory, 25% of PROS- PERA beneficiaries are indigenous, 60% rural and 40% urban. There are a great variety of profiles and needs, that would, consequently, require different graduation models.

13 Balance: challenges ahead In Paraguay Social Policy is mostly centralized and local governments does not have enough resources to invest. Traditionally cooperation between government bodies has been limited. Another big challenge is to connect people with value chains. In Mexico, the biggest challenge is related to productive inclusion. This implies to help people to build capacities they currently lack. They have identified that the efforts to connect participants to an ecosystem that they barely know (the market) must be matched with skills: management, entrepreneurship, finance, communication. In India, a major concern is to include the poorest of the poor. Kerala region has some relevant examples. India s government is extremely decentralized. Another challenge is the fact that land owners only have a very limited area. Finally, other challenges ahead: infrastructure, connecting rural areas with markets (cities), creating better technologies to produce and reducing transaction costs.. INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA 13

14 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA 14

15 PANEL # 2: Remaining challenges for poverty eradication Participants: PROSPERA (Mexico) Alok Kumar (India) expert in rural development, Hebe Gómez (Paraguay), Coordinator or the Familia por Familia pilot program. Discussion: What are the main achievements of the programs and interventions? has inclusion of extremely poor and vulnerable people been possible? What possible solutions can be advanced to tackle the most critical problems? Serving the indigenous population within PROSPERA (Mexico) By: PROSPERA INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA PROSPERA covers a population of 6.8 million families or 34 million people, from which, 19% are indigenous language speaking people. In Mexico there are 60 linguistic groups with more than 100 variations. This is why PROSPERA officials considered that it was necessary to design strategies in favor of this particular segment. The goal was to generate actions to favor their inclusion and access to quality services. To this end, they established a standardization process with the National Institute of Indigenous Languages and the Nacional Council of Standardization and Certification or Labor Skills. The model consists in identifying micro-zones within communities that are classified by language. Then, a social worker is assigned to be in charge of each micro zone. In general, these social workers come from the communities. Currently the work is focused on training social workers with federal and state governments. Since the launch of the strategy, it has been an increase from 4 to 17 states with 125 certified social workers. Today there are 325 micro-zones with 325 trained staff members. To date, there are 1.3 million families atended by this model. One of the main challenges of this new model is the operational cost of implementation. Geographical isolation is an important reason for this. Next steps are the elaboration of surveys and actions plans per micro zone and the coordination with other government agencies working with indigenous population. Challenges and learned lessons in poverty struggle in India By: Alok Kumar Similar to Mexico, one key element for program design is that of poverty definition. Poverty was previously defined by incomes. Today Indian government measures poverty from a multidimensional perspective. There are remaining challenges: infrastructure, low productivity agriculture, lack of social capital, gender inequality, access to credit and limited livelihoods. In India, important segments of the population depend on agriculture, 73% of the country is rural. However, 56.6% of rural families are not land owners. On the other hand, 71% of the households are mobile phone users. This last fact in creating big optimism. What lessons have been learned? Experience shows that extremely poor people can leave poverty after a 6 to 8-year period, if they are properly organized, nourished and receive support and handholding. There must be a support structure and access to credit. It is also necessary to achieve a change in paradigms, such as: a) building institutions and social mobilization b) Identifying capabilities and the desires of the communities c) Support from institutions and awareness of the true needs of the population. Summarizing, we could say that is perceiving poor as agents of change. To achieve these goals, it is necessary to create synergies between stakeholders: banks, NGOs, higher education institutions, public and private sector and civil society. In addition, different approaches should be conceived for different segments of population and for a variety of livelihoods. 15

16 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA In Paraguay, to identify the most affected areas, focalization is implemented by using a priority geographical index, it is based on a national household survey. Afterwards the potential beneficiaries submit an anonymous formulary named ficha social that is used to identify the intensity of poverty. Finally, information is verified using mobile devices and an app available on Google Play. One emerging challenge is the fact that poor people tends to move very often. This means that from the moment of Gaps, biases and solutions (Paraguay) By: Hebe Gómez Balance: Shared challenges selection to the moment when they start receiving the benefits of the programs it is possible that they have already moved. For this reason, verification process with social workers is key. Another key aspect to be considered are procedures, times and dynamics of bureaucracies. Focalization have been helpful to avoid political clientelism. Cultural, linguistic, and geographical diversity, different levels of development, adoption of technologies and political considerations are shared challenges by the three participant countries. In general, the programs of Mexico, India and Paraguay can be considered as effective programs but more efforts are needed to tackle the last mile challenge. Actions, goals and approaches must settled from the communities and local leaders, so these have to foster collaboration between parties with a long term support. 16

17 PANEL # 3: Perspectives from development organizations Participants: Tatiana Rincón (Fundación Capital) Director of Social Promotion and Livelihoods Maitreeyee Ghosh (India) development expert, Efraín Tecú (Trickle Up Americas) Program manager, Manuel Rabasa (Mexico) Director of Koox Taani. Discussion: what is the contribution of NGOs to poverty eradication? What social and financial inclusion methods are used by organizations to serve the poor people? What is their experience working with governments? The Fundación Capital approach By: Tatiana Rincón INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA Fundación Capital is an organization that creates and tests innovative solutions, that is deeply inspired by the desire of scaling. There are two central approaches in their work: a) the partnership work with governments and b) the use of technology. Today their work covers areas like Latin America, Africa and soon Vietnam, attending around 27,000 worldwide. Scaling had been a bottleneck. This is why Fundación Capital decided to work hand in hand with governments. They realized that even if there were important differences, there were also common problems faced by policymakers and practitioners. Working directly with governments is then considered a good practice. For instance, they are currently working with Mexican government to implement the graduation approach. The experience of the organization has shown that frequently implemented productive inclusion solutions have not been effective enough and did not reach the poorer of the poor, but these solutions are generally well adopted by communities with some levels of social capital. This is why innovative solutions must be created in favor of the most vulnerable groups. Lessons from Odisha (India) By: Maitreeyee Ghosh Regarding to the Graduation approach in poor communities, in India there are not a single poor category, but there are many. India has developed comprehensive poverty reduction programs. However, 20% of the population is still not covered: those who migrate and have no sustainable sources of income. The work is implemented in different phases, starting with focalization and capacity building. Also, at the initial stages, awareness and sensitization work must be done with government officials and policymakers to teach them how to work with poor people. In a second phase, social capital strategies, segmentation and community leaders identification are tackled. Third, the work focuses on livelihoods and poverty reduction strategies. At this point self-confidence must be reinforced. To achieve these goals, the key components are the planning processes at the household level, articulation with other government programs, capacity building and financial inclusion. In short, these actions pretend to generate virtuous cycles: building confidence and to establish the foundations of a graduation path. Trickle Up s work in the Americas By: Efraín Tecú Trickle Up has a long experience working with different governments in the region. In Paraguay, it articulates support and saving groups. In Nicaragua it works jointly with the Todos con voz program. In Guatemala they asses 3 ministries in allocation of public social grants to favor the most vulnerable population. In addition, Trickle Up works with municipal governments 17

18 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA in planning fiscal cycles, resources allocation and training of officials in several areas, like those that provide attention to women. One of the main goals is to establish institutional partnerships in order to offer more comprehensive services to vulnerable people. Learned lessons First, the need of breaking those paradigms which perceives poor people as social assistant recipients instead of agents of change. At this point, Trickle Up s KOOX TAANI: implementing graduation approach in the Yucatan State, Mexico By: Manuel Rabasa In 2015, Koox Taani, started to work in communities of the center/southern areas of the Yucatan state, applying the graduation approach in cooperation with Trickle Up. Today it attends 7 communities of 4 municipalities covering 170 Mayan families. Mostly working with women. The work began by setting the objectives and the strategy as long as indicators for graduation, both qualitative and quantitative. work is key. Extremely poor people are capable of getting involved. Social workers should come from the communities to facilitates the work. Financial recourses are always limited; however, the experience shows that when evidence is available and impacts are positive, politicians are more willing to get involved. The graduation approach breaks with the assistance approach and the distribution of supplies and assets. From the initial stages, programs should foster relations and interaction between actors. On the other hand, government and bureaucratic procedures and dynamics must not be ignored. have sufficient income to satisfy their needs. The program offers handholding and the design of a family plan, it provides seed capital as well as, technical and administrative support. Self-esteem reinforcement and social participation. 99% of the participants had not participated or worked with other community members to solve common problems with authorities. This has also changed. What strategies were implemented? Savings and credit groups. Before to program s intervention, 82% of participants did not have savings. They received financial training and today the 170 families are organized in 9 savings groups. Improving families diet. 91% of the households had experienced hunger in the 3 months prior to program. Koox Tanni worked in partnership with Heifer Foundation and the Universidad Antonio Narro of Coahuila, to offer food preparation and food production workshops. Today 64% of the families did not reported hunger situations according to September 2017 surveys. Main achievements The first year was focused on groups integration and training. During second year, they received seed capital. Today 70% of families have a profitable productive activity and 98% of the woman have participated in collective meetings. In the future they look forward to consolidate this achievements through reinforcing their work: saving groups, food support, family income, capacity building and self-esteem. The totality of funding comes from private sources: firms and individuals. However, they work with agreement of local authorities. In the following years Ko ox Taani will foresee growing to 400 families. Increasing families income. 82% of the households did not Balance: The experience of working with governments In India it has been necessary to build relationships with all levels of governments starting with central authorities and then with local. One strategy to avoid the interruption or abandonment of programs due to politician changes is evidence generation, especially when conducted by external parties. Another strategy is the regulation, for example most cash transfers in Latin America are protected by law. 18

19 PANEL # 4: Accountability Participants: Sheila Duarte (Paraguay) Philip Mathew (India) Expert on social development. Jaime Gutiérrez (Mexico) General Director of Planning and Monitoring of PROSPERA. Paulina Rodriguez (Prospera Mexico) Discussion: what accountability mechanisms have been implemented within social policies of this countries? What are the main challenges and opportunities? In Paraguay, accountability mechanisms depend on national legislation. As for Familias por Familias program there is an agreement signed between parties: Fundación Capital, the Technical Secretariat for Planning, and the Spanish International Cooperation Agency. Accountability mechanisms in Paraguay By: Sheila Duarte For example, they must sign a letter of commitment and to elaborate a Business plan for their projects. After these initial procedures there is a final list of beneficiaries that must be approved by resolution and only then, the funds are delivered to the participants through a public bank. INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA There was other mechanism that were created to favor accountability: An Operations Manual was established to deal with selection and monitoring of participants. There are also other formularies that must be submitted by the beneficiaries. In addition to formularies, there are two kinds of reports requested by the donor, one technical, another financial. The reports are elaborated according to Paraguayan legislation. Accountability framework in India By: Philip Mathew In order to establish accountability mechanisms, there are some fundamental questions that must be addressed: how community accountability mechanisms work? How is it possible to assure quality, coverage and impact of the programs? How to foster ownership from the stakeholders and sustainability? In India there is an accountability framework that takes into account clients, policymakers and suppliers. There are also two approaches: a) Top down: accountability mechanisms that are requested by law b) Bottom up: where participation of citizens is the main focus. In this approach, society has a watchdog role. The purpose is to reinforce governance and to improve the quality of public services incorporating feedback from people. The main components of the accountability framework are: criteria definition, accountability tools, definitions of levels of intervention, processes implement and monitoring, as well as evaluations and human resources tools such as the definitions of roles. Main challenges are: the communitie lack of awareness of accountability mechanisms and procedures and the fact that information and communication channels are not standardized. One of the main learned lessons is the detected need for having a continuous support from Community Based Organizations -CBOs. In addition to a proactively communication of initiatives and existing accountability mechanisms to the people. Social participation and evaluation in Mexico By: Jaime Gutiérrez and Paulina Rodriguez PROSPERA program has established mechanisms of social participation like the election of representatives among the beneficiaries. These representatives are organized by committees get involved in topics like gender, health, social accountability, education among others. They have an intermediary role between the community and the PROS- PERA officials. It is a volunteer work. PROSPERA is the most evaluated and audited program within Mexico s Federal administration. It is also the program that has the biggest amount of financial resources. Since its launch the program incorporated evaluation as a key component. The evaluations are requested by the legislation. Currently the National Coordination of Prospera is woking in the evaluation of the new component: institutional coordination. 19

20 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA Balance: Lessons and challenges of accountability In India, the use of biometric identity is considered a big potential for impact measurement of social programs at household level. They also are aware of risks. In this country, community women assemblies are considered on one hand as an accountability mechanism, on the other hand as evidence of social participation. In India they are aware that these processes need time to show results: typically, from 3 to 4 years. In Mexico, in 2003 the government adopted the Access to Information Law. This implied the creation of the Federal Institute of Access to Information. Previously, information exchange between government bodies was very limited. This law also protects citizens personal data. Both aspects are considered key for accountability. Form Fundación Capital perspective, it has seen that mobile device s apps have proved to be useful to monitor social workers. Evidence is available from the evaluations in three countries. An important challenge at scaling programs in Paraguay is the need of counting on tax receipts to justify the expenses of the participants, but it is too difficult for them to get these, due to important proportions of the population work in the informal economy. 20

21 MESA PANEL # 5: Inclusive scaling Participants: Hebe Gómez (Paraguay) Coordinator of Familia por Familia pilot program. Sisir Pradhan (India) Responsible of the NRLM team in Odisha. Representative of PROSPERA (Mexico) Discussion: which has been the path to incorporate graduation approach in government social programs? Which contribution has been added to public value of programs? Which are the main lessons, challenges and scaling perspectives? Scaling challenges in Paraguay By: Hebe Gómez INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA In Paraguay, it has been settled a currently work in the identification of programs that could be incorporated to a graduation approach. In the period between the TENONDERA program was implemented by the Social Action Secretariat, this is the agency in charge of Cash Transfer Programs -CTPs implementation. The Agriculture and Livestock Ministry faced the most difficult experience in the incorporation of the graduation approach. The mission of this ministry is to increase productivity of the land, measured by hectares; so, it is a big challenge to make them adopt a graduation or poverty eradication perspective. Another issue that has become very relevant is the profile of social workers and how to make a better use of their time. What is and how to achieve scaling? (India experience) By: Sisir Pradhan There are many different ways to understand scaling: to expand the number of beneficiaries, to attend the same people with more activities, and intensification of the activities and actions? Similar to Mexico, Indian government has developed a set of indicators to determine who is considered poor. For example, the socio-economic census per caste is relevant for qualified scaling. Other aspect that must be considered in India is the co-existence of central and state government level programs. Also, the cities are isolated in both physical and social ways. Regional disparities must not be ignored. Some key designed elements are: the planning process, institutional straightening and support mechanisms for the implementation of projects. Technology is becoming a component that can have major impacts. Scaling challenges and the incorporation of the graduation approach in Mexico By: Representative of PROSPERA In Mexico s case, the way to adopt the graduation approach in through the new institutional coordination component of PROSPERA program. In the states of San Luis Potosí and Guanajuato there were previous experiences with productive inclusion activities and savings groups that were taken into account. Challenges: Regulation restrictions. PROSPERA does not provide credit and does not have leverage power towards other government agencies. Inefficient institutional coordination. PROSPERA beneficiaries are not qualifying to become beneficiaries of the programs offered by other government bodies because of its selection criteria. Lack of training. Other government bodies do not offer previous or ongoing training to the beneficiaries of their programs. Self-exclusion. The experience shows that those who 21

22 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA have previous experience as beneficiaries of social programs are the ones who are more willing to participate but those who are in worst conditions and who really need support are not confident enough to apply. Even though these challenges, PROSPERA considered important to incorporate the Graduation approach, taking in count that it is a successful methodology, applied at international level and with positive impacts in other countries Balance: Challenges for scaling and, this was aligned with PROSPERAs components and new vision. Currently there is a pilot program running with 400 families of six communities in the states of Guerrero an Queretaro. After 24 month of implementation they have seen that no major adaptations needed to be made in order to incorporate graduation approach to PROSPERA. Evaluations will be conducted in the second semester of In Paraguay seed capital has been the biggest bottle neck. From the perspective of the beneficiaries, to experience success motivates them to think about their future and to break the day to day life approach. In India it has foreseen budget reductions, as well as the lack of interested people in development work as big challenges ahead. International cooperation is also in retreat. Therefore, cooperation among actors will be fundamental. Some remaining questions to be addressed: how to segment poor people? Is it possible to substitute coaching? Are there more cost-effective ways to deal with coaching? How to achieve an balance between quality and quantity in scaling? What graduation approach components can be eliminated? What alternative sources for seed capital are available? 22

23 Conclusions and new ideas to improve social policies and Cash Transfer Programs Discussion: Here are the main ideas shared by the workshop participants as closing remarks, new learnings and questions for the future. There are some things that work in India and others that don t, but these things might work or not in Latin America and vice versa. This is why it is important to stay flexible and to adapt. Cultural diversity of indigenous peoples forces us not to think in a unique model. Technologies are very useful, but human coaching will always be the most important element. Regarding CBOs the evaluation should not only capture the impact at organizations level but also the impact on the individuals. How to promote synergies between social protection and poverty eradication programs? Should both kinds be managed by a single organization? Gaps between program implementation bodies, their people and beneficiaries must be closed. Exhaustive evaluations should be promoted as well as information sharing and experience exchange like the current workshop. It is necessary to decrease coaching cost without sacrificing quality. Poor people must be seen as agents of change, as subjects of rights and this should be taken into account at the design phase. Long-term and continuous handholding is needed for 6 to 8-year periods. Programs should be adapted to institutions and not vice versa. There have been lots of learning throughout the years but there is still room for new discoveries in particular regarding productive inclusion activities. The profile of social workers should be reviewed. Which educational and professional path is the best suited to work as a social worker? Men should not be forgotten or left behind. Accountability is a key element. Tools and procedures must be created. Decision makers are for the most part politicians, how to deal with this reality? Beneficiaries must create by themselves their graduation criteria and indicators. It is necessary to articulate policies and social programs with politics and outcomes. There are poor people but also ultra-poor people. We need more standardization to be all on the same page regarding graduation. There are rarely easy options and solutions, instead, broad processes and learnings must be promoted to achieve comprehensive solutions. Alternative funding sources to government must be explored. It is fascinating how technology is evolving. Digital components should be considered in the discussion. Graduation approach projects must be adapted to the geographical context and to the challenges of the population. Monitoring is key to make sure that design and execution are going accordingly. Both processes and results must be evaluated. Tensions are what allows advances, this is the case in scaling. A clear definition of scaling as well as realistic goals and expectations should make things easier. INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA 23

24 INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA 24

25 Round Table Recommendations Jaya Sarkar. Trickle Up USA Philip Mathew. Trickle Up Asia Jorge Coy. Trickle Up Americas 1. Changes are needed in the political paradigm and how we view people living in poverty. We must view people living in extreme poverty and vulnerability as actors in development and not merely subjects of services. They should be viewed as drivers of growth and not just recipients of benefits. We should guard against approaches of paternalism and clientelism. Programs must be designed to consider the agency and innate capacities of people living in extreme poverty and vulnerability and promote their capacity for self help. Mobilization and capacity building should be an essential part of program design. In multi-stakeholder agreements, we must discuss and align our conceptual frameworks around how we see people living in extreme poverty and vulnerability, thus aligning our program design and approach. This calls for the integration of community participation in poverty reduction planning so that we can ensure their perspectives and barriers they face are included in program design, planning and implementation. Participation in economic inclusion will help in political inclusion. How do we link the economic, social and political interaction? INTERNATIONAL PAIRING WORKSHOP MEXICO - PARAGUAY - INDIA 2. Inter-Institutional Coordination is essential to holistic program delivery but also challenges administrative systems. Understanding that poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, we must ensure the coordination and synergy of social projects from all sectors to ensure that we are addressing these multiple dimensions. In some cases, priority will be on the area of health to address physical suffering. Understanding how target populations benefit from different programs and synchronizing that response can be critical. A strong and linked digital data base can support program implementation and enhance our understanding of results of the joint implementation across sectors. Inter-institutional coordination should also extend to other institutions outside of government such as banks, businesses and academic institutions. NGO s role? As technical agency? Or implementer? It varies from country to county. But needs to be defined. It s the capacity issue and organization specific. Need of inter-intra institutional coordination. Working together at all levels from lower level to the highest level. Build synergy with different Government Agencies which are working in similar line to avoid overlapping. Synergy in resource allocation and joint program design is required. Different programs have different objectives and it is sometimes difficult to coordinate efforts, for example, some social protection programs don t have a productive component. Here, we could see how this benefits and provision of social protection program can be used as critical inputs in program design and program implementation. Policy implementers should be sensitized for creating enabling environment for bringing this synergy which will lead to bringing in desired policy change. Evidence based results will enact as the catalyst of this process. 3. Institutions of extremely poor and vulnerable populations should be cultivated and play a key role in driving the program. These institutions should represent and be led by the people living in poverty themselves and caution should be taken that they not be coopted but rather function with high levels transparency and participation. This is the real challenge in the reality and community based social audit system and performance appraisal system needs to be introduced as coarse correction mechanism. Mobilization and capacity building of these groups is essential These institutions should also be trained and become aware of entitlements and rights they enjoy and understand how to claim these rights and entitlements. Coaching and handholding is an important element in building the capacity of these groups. This capacity building initiative at different level like HH level, group/institution level etc. These groups can play a role in strengthening civil society and also an important role in financial inclusion through accessing credit and loans. This point needs further clarification Design aspect: People living in poverty have the innate ability to overcome their issues, but they need some 25