United Nations              
Non-contributory Social Protection Programmes Database
Latin America and the Caribbean
Social Allowance (ex My Safety Allowance) (2012-)

 

 

Date: 2012
Web: Official website of the programme
Description: Social Allowance (Bono Social) is a conditional cash transfer led by the Ministry of Social Development, it targets households living in poverty and extreme poverty conditions. Its purpose is to improve the children scholar enrolment rate and improve their health and nutrition condition. This programme is part of the "Hambre Cero"pact of the Guatemalan government. This program supports the National Strategy for the Prevention of Chronic Malnutrition.
   

Characteristics

Target population: Families with children in a situation of poverty and extreme poverty between 0 and 15 years of age, pregnant and lactating women, girls and adolescents victims of sexual violence, and pregnant women or mothers 14 years old or younger whose cases have been prosecuted.
Geographic scale: National
Targeting method: 1) Geographical: municipalities prioritized according to criteria of poverty, emergencies and natural or provoked disasters.
2) Proxy means test: Poverty levels according to the Poverty Index generated from the Socioeconomic Conditions Evaluation Card (FECS).
3) 3) Categorical: Criteria for programme selection.
Instrument of selection: The census of prioritized municipalities by INE and the Socioeconomic Conditions Evaluation Card (FECS) of the Coordination and Organization Department of Mi Bono Seguro program.
Registry of recipients: Unique Registry of Participants (Registro Unico de Usuarios - RUU)
Exit strategies or criteria: No fulfillment of conditionalities on health and education: absence from school, medical check-ups established in the health services and training.
The recertification process is carried out in the framework of the preparation of the census prior to the delivery of the contributions to the families, according to Decree 50-2016.
Comments: This programme replaced "Mi familia progresa" and is also known as My Safety Allowance (MBS).
The Public Calamity Transfer is an intervention included in the Social Allowance programme. It identifies the health and/or education transfers given to those recipients that live in zones declared under state of emergency, in order to issue these transfers with no conditionalities. The Public Calamity Transfer can also increase the health and/or education transfer up to 50% of its value.
In 2020, due to COVID-19, the program suspended the conditions in education and health.
   

Institutionality

Legal framework: Ministerial Agreement No. DS 47 2015; Ministerial Agreement No. DS-61-2017; Decree 50-2016.
Responsible organization(s): Ministry of Social Development (MIDES)
Executing organization(s): Ministry of Social Development (MIDES)
Responsible organization(s) for the registry of recipients: The Vice Ministry of Social Protection of MIDES is in charge of the administration in the process of the Unique Registry of Participants (RUU).
   

1) Education Intervention

Recipient(s): Families in a situation of poverty with children between 6 and 15 years of age.
Mode of transfer: One transfer per household
Mode of delivery: Savings account deposit
Periodicity of delivery: Monthly
Recipient of the transfer: Mother
Maximum per household: One transfer per household
Conditionalities: Children between 6 and 15 years of age must be enrolled and attend school regularly.
Sanctions: The transfer will be canceled when the households do not fulfill three times the conditionalities or when their conditions change.
Comments: In October 2018, two different scales were established regarding the amount of the transfer, which varies between GTQ $ 300 and GTQ $ 500, according to department. GTQ $300 for the following departments: Huehuetanango, Quiché, Alta Verapaz, Chiquimula, Totonicapán, San Marcos, Sololá, Baja Verapaz, Jalapa and Juiapa. GTQ $500 for the following departments: Sacatepéquez, Chimaltenango, Escuintla, Suchitepéquez, Retalhuleu, Santa Rosa, Petén, Izabal, Progreso, Zacapa and Quetzaltenango.

In addition to the education intervention of the Social Allowance, the Ministry of Social Development of Guatemala offers the Social Grant Programme (Programa Beca Social), which assigns scholarships and cash transfers to people living in poverty and extreme poverty in order to encourage permanence in formal education, strengthen skills and integrate users into the formal labor market through secondary and higher education, productive training and employability. This programme is part of the Labour and Productive Inclusion programmes (for more information see https://dds.cepal.org/bpsnc/programa?id=168).

The Public Calamity Transfer is an intervention included in the Social Allowance programme. It identifies the health and/or education transfers given to those recipients that live in zones declared under state of emergency, in order to issue these transfers with no conditionalities. The Public Calamity Transfer can also increase the health and/or education transfer up to 50% of its value.

In 2020, due to COVID-19, the program suspended the conditions in education and health.
Amount : GTQ $300 monthly; see Data in Excel format.

 

2) Health Intervention

Recipient(s): Families in a situation of poverty with children between 0 and 6 years and pregnant/breastfeeding women
Mode of transfer: Transfer in function of the recipient characteristics (number of children)
Mode of delivery: Savings account deposit
Periodicity of delivery: Monthly
Recipient of the transfer: Mother
Maximum per household: One transfer per household
Conditionalities: Assistance to medical check-ups for children, pregnant and breast-feeding women. All the children of the family group must fulfill the conditionalities, it is not enough that only one of each age range complies.
Sanctions: The transfer will be canceled when households do not fulfill three times the conditionalities
Comments: The Public Calamity Transfer is an intervention included in the Social Allowance programme. It identifies the health and/or education transfers given to those recipients that live in zones declared under state of emergency, in order to issue these transfers with no conditionalities. The Public Calamity Transfer can also increase the health and/or education transfer up to 50% of its value.
In 2020, due to COVID-19, the program suspended the conditions in education and health.
Amount : GTQ $500 monthly; see Data in Excel format.

 

3) Growing Healthy transfer

Recipient(s): Families with children between 0 and 24 months of age who are in a situation of vulnerability due to chronic malnutrition and who live in a situation of poverty or extreme poverty.
Mode of delivery: Bank transfer
Periodicity of delivery: Monthly
Recipient of the transfer: Household head (preferably the mother)
Maximum per household: One transfer per household
Conditionalities: Attendance to medical check-ups in order to prevent the prevalence of chronic malnutrition
Sanctions: The family's assistance would be canceled when co-responsibilities are breached three times or due to a change in conditions.
Comments: This is an intervention part of the Social Allowance programme incorporated in 2016. The transfer will prioritize attention in the departments chosen by the Secretariat of Food and Nutrition Security -Sesan- and seeks to prevent chronic malnutrition. The intervention only covers the following departments: Huehuetenango, Quiché, Alta Verapaz, Chiquimula, Totonicapán, San Marcos and Sololá.
The departure of families from the program can be caused by:
i) The family's resignation.
ii) When the child is over 24 months old.
Amount : GTQ $500

 

Review of IDB Institutional Support to the Conditional Cash Transfer in Three Lower-Middle-Income Countries

Author: IDB
Date: 2015
Publication info: Comparative case studies of the IDB
Link: See Webpage
Topic: General information

 

 

 

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