Inclusive social development: The next generation of policies for overcoming poverty and reducing inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean

Contents
Foreword.................................................................................................................................................................9
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................................11
Chapter I
Recent progress and challenges in social development in Latin America and the Caribbean ........................................... 15
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................... 15
A. Significant reductions in poverty and extreme poverty .......................................................................................... 16
B. Significant vulnerability to poverty........................................................................................................................ 18
C. Income inequality................................................................................................................................................. 20
D. The social inequality matrix in Latin America: gender, racial and ethnic dimensions ............................................ 23
1. Gender inequality........................................................................................................................................... 23
2. Ethnic and racial inequalities: indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants........................................................ 25
E. Other dimensions of inequality............................................................................................................................. 31
1. Inequalities by geographical area: rural sectors............................................................................................... 31
2. Persons with disabilities.................................................................................................................................. 32
F. Work as the key to equality: positive trends in labour market indicators ............................................................... 32
1. Reduced unemployment and increased income, in particular from minimum wages....................................... 34
2. Employment formalization.............................................................................................................................. 36
3. Increase in social protection coverage............................................................................................................. 37
4. Women's labour participation, gender inequalities and poverty reduction ..................................................... 41
5. Young people and the labour market............................................................................................................... 43
G. Recent evolution and unresolved challenges in education and health................................................................... 48
1. Making the education system a mechanism for reducing inequalities.............................................................. 48
2. Closing the gap in access to health.................................................................................................................. 52
H. Recent evolution of social spending...................................................................................................................... 54
I. Concluding remarks.............................................................................................................................................. 57
Bibliography............................................................................................................................................................... 58
Chapter II
Policies for overcoming poverty, sector policies and social protection systems................................................................ 63
Introduction................................................................................................................................................................ 63
A. Poverty reduction policies and their relation with sectoral policies and social protection systems......................... 64
1. The dichotomy between targeting and universality: implications for social policy........................................... 64
2. Links between targeted and universal policies................................................................................................. 66
3. Social protection and types of financing.......................................................................................................... 67
B. Poverty reduction based on a social protection and rights approach...................................................................... 68
C. Income transfer programmes to overcome poverty: weighing up the experience................................................... 69
1. Evolution of CCTs in the region: coverage, amounts and investment............................................................... 70
2. Conditional transfer programmes and their social and economic effects.......................................................... 72
3. CCTs and the challenge of labour and productive inclusion............................................................................ 75
D. Final comments..................................................................................................................................................... 80
Bibliography............................................................................................................................................................... 80
Contents
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