By: Staff Writer
October 13, 2023
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in a new report, “Institutional Frameworks for Social Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean,” said that the region has not been able to make headway in recovering from the pandemic’s social impacts and regain the levels of pre-pandemic social indicators registered in 2019.
Institutional frameworks for social policy form the foundation for design and implementation of public policies for inclusive social development and have also been a chief concern of the work of the ministries of social development and equivalent bodies in the countries of the region since the first session of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
At that session, held in Lima, Peru, 2015, national authorities conducted a preliminary analysis of regional, subregional and national social policy institutional frameworks (ministries and collegial coordination bodies).
The identified characteristics of institutional frameworks include the short histories of the social authorities in charge in non-contributory social protection in the region —which in many cases emerged in relation to the social investment funds of the 1990s— when compared to other areas of government
The report said: “Of the challenges relating to the characteristics of institutional frameworks for social policy, is highlighted ‘consolidating a legal and regulatory basis that enhances the sustainability of social policies as State policies that endure beyond electoral changes; strengthening the role of social development in the public agenda and the capacity for coordinating and linking poverty reduction policies with social protection policies, other areas of social policy (education, health, labour, housing) and with the economic, infrastructure and productive development sphere; deepening public administration capacity in the social area, considering the formalization of procedures from the drafting of plans to the evaluation of their outcomes, as well as the availability of reliable and timely information to guide decision-making in pursuit of maximum impact and efficiency; ensuring adequate resources to meet the needs of a quality social policy, transforming the concept of current expenditure into one of social investment, and improving its recording and publication, both in terms of financing and implementation,’.”
The report also said: “The cascading crises of recent years have further highlighted the relevance and importance of having an institutional framework for social policy that can meet the challenges in the region. Institutional frameworks for social policy can determine the policies, programmes and transformations that are needed to achieve minimum levels of well-being, participation and exercise of rights, universally, for all people. They thus affect the capacity to achieve results that are sustainable, as well as the adequacy of benefits, their coverage and their financial sustainability. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic laid bare institutional strengths and weaknesses, as well as resilience and capacity to adapt to needs arising from the social and economic impacts of the pandemic.”
It continued, “However, in addition to this scrutiny of capacities, there was an impact from intensifying migration, worsening disasters linked to climate change, violence, the global economic and social impacts of the conflict in Ukraine, and accelerating technological change —with effects on the labour market— all of which add to the challenge of making social protection in the region more inclusive and sustainable. At the heart of the sustainability of social protection systems in the region is the ability to meet social commitments in terms of coverage, adequacy of benefits and financial sustainability for both current and future generations.”