Op Ed
Sharing the Benefits of Economic Growth in the Western Hemisphere
October 13, 2009
By D. Brent Hardt
Fighting poverty and inequality is a priority for governments throughout the Western Hemisphere. We are committed to lifting people out of poverty and moving them from the informal to the formal economy. On September 22 at a conference in New York, leaders from the Western Hemisphere gathered to share insights and experience on the design, implementation, and evaluation of successful social protection programs to help national, regional, and municipal governments address pressing social concerns.
At the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain in April, presidents and prime ministers from throughout the Hemisphere committed to establish a network to help poor families compete in the global economy. In New York, United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joined Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, ministers of social development, non-governmental organizations, and private sector representatives together with the leaders of the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in launching the Inter-American Social Protection Network.
Social protection consists of interventions that seek to enable poor and vulnerable households to better manage risk, benefit from economic growth, and move out of poverty.
Every country in this hemisphere, including the United States, has searched for ways to combat poverty and inequality. Many countries have implemented conditional cash transfer programs, an innovative concept pioneered in Brazil and Mexico. While the details vary from country to country, many governments provide a small monthly cash stipend to mothers if they ensure that their children stay in school and receive regular medical examinations. It is a simple idea linking responsibility with opportunity. Conditional cash transfer programs have a track record of success. According to the World Bank, conditional cash transfer programs have reduced national poverty rates by 8 percent in Ecuador and Mexico, nearly 5 percent in Jamaica, and 3 percent in Brazil. Other positive results include higher school attendance rates, lower incidence of disease, higher birth weights, and improved child nutrition.
These programs, if well designed and tailored to meet the realities of each country, can help produce better-educated, healthier citizens. But as Secretary Clinton noted, they are not a “silver bullet” that will eliminate poverty. They are one tool that policy makers can use to help reduce poverty by investing in people.
There is much we can learn from one another. My country is a case in point. Mayor Bloomberg explained how he went to Mexico in 2007 to learn about Oportunidades and liked it so much that he not only used it as the basis for a pilot program in New York City that he called Opportunity New York City. President Bachelet explained how Chile is helping a number of Caribbean countries in the design of their social protection programs. There are other innovative programs in our region at the local and national level that also serve as models.
The United States is committed to working with our colleagues to make the Inter-American Social Protection Network a mechanism to which we all contribute and from which we all benefit. Our common goal is to help democratic governments deliver the benefits of good governance to their citizens and enable all citizens to take responsibility for their future. As Secretary Clinton concluded, "It isn't charity; it's an investment."
D. Brent Hardt is Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the United States of America to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.