| Date: | 2014-2019 |
| Web: | Official website of the programme |
| Description: | This programme is the successor of Oportunidades and aims to articulate and coordinate the institutional offer of programmes and social policy actions, including productive promotion, earnings generation, economic wellness, labour and financial inclusion, education, feeding, and health targeted to extreme poor households. These actions consider schemes that enable families to improve their living conditions, to be social rights holders, and to access to the social development with opportunities equality. The program offers two support schemes: (i) the Support Scheme with Co-responsibility, in which families can receive the support of all program components because the coverage and attention capacity of the services of education and health allow the simultaneous operation of the educational, health and food components; and (ii) the Support Scheme without Co-responsibility, in which the coverage and attention capacity of the services of education and health do not allow the simultaneous operation of the educational, health and food components, for which families can only receive the supports of the food, linkage and higher education components, without being subject to conditions in order to receive the transfers of the program. Also, the programme complements the intervention with other social programmes offering access to basic services (Programa para el Desarrollo de Zonas Prioritarias, Programa de Fomento a la Urbanización Rural), housing (Programa Vivienda Digna, Programa Vivienda Rural) and social security (Estancias Infantiles, Seguro de Vida para Jefas de Familia, Programa de Pensión para Adultos Mayores). Lastly, the programe considers hearing rights for families who are unjustified cancelled their participation, in order to enforce the right of reinstatement. |
Characteristics
| Target population: | Households below the food poverty line |
| Geographic scale: | National |
| Targeting method: | 1) Geographical: The universe of attention comprises all localities in the country. But priority is given to the localities with households registered in the System of Development Targeting (SIFODE); and the Index of Social Backwardness by the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL) as well as the Marginalization Index of the National Population Council (CONAPO) are used to prioritize locations where there is no presence of the program. 2) Proxy means test: Families in condition of poverty according to the information registered in the System of Development Targeting (SIFODE). 3) Community: Localities with citizen demand registered by the National Coordination of Prospera. 4) Categorical: Criteria for program selection. |
| Instrument of selection: | Unique Questionnaire of Socioeconomic Information (CUIS) and Complementary Information of Prospera registered in the Survey of Socioeconomic Characteristics of Households (CUIS-ENCASEH). |
| Registry of recipients: | The registry of recipients is called Beneficiaries Register of the Prospera Program, which is made up of the Beneficiaries Base Register, which contains infomration on families eligible for the process of joining the Program and the Active Register of Beneficiaries, which contains the families incorporated to the Program and that remain active; as well as the families that have been dropped or suspended from the Register of Beneficiaries.
The information collected about the families through the CUIS is registered in the System of Development Targeting (SIFODE), which consolidates the socio-economic information of the Persons / Households and registers the information of the social assistance areas or social actors included in the Register of Beneficiaries. The information of the SIFODE is used by the Program for the targeting and identification of recipients. The Register of Beneficiaries of the Program is incorporated into the Unique Register of Beneficiaries (PUB), which is a database that contains information on all the registers of persons, social actors and users populations of the social development programs. Likewise, this information is incorporated into the Integral System of Government Programs (SIPP-G), which is a tool that consolidates the information of recipients of the allowance programs under the Federal Government in a single database. |
| Exit strategies or criteria: | Recertification every 8 years. Prospera allows that, after overcoming poverty, families stay between 1 and 3 years in the Differentiated Support Scheme (Esquema Diferenciado de Apoyo - EDA). The length of stay in this scheme depends on whether the household maintains the demographic criteria (members under 22 years of age or women of reproductive age) and their estimated income per capita. |
| Comments: | Transfers are subject to a biannual increase calculated according to the national consumer price index (CPI) of the basic basket, published by the Bank of Mexico. For the selection of the areas to ce covered by the programme, all the areas of the country are taken into account, taking as reference the index of social backwardness established by Coneval, and the deprivation index established by Conapo. Since 2012, the criteria for updating the programme support was modified: The National Index of Consummer Prices published by the Bank of Mexico was replaced by the index associated to the (urban and rural) Minimum Welfare Lines publicated by CONEVAL. |
| Sanciones: | Suspension of cash support when: The recipient does not withdraw the transfer or does not perform account movements twice in a row in two or more consecutive bimonthly periods. Cannot prove that the recipient is alive. If the participant family is subject to proceedings related to the custody of children. If the members of the household present a dispute over the supports of the programme. If it is not possible to collect socioeconomic and demographic information for reasons attributable to the family. The household does not allow verification of their socioeconomic and demographic status. If any member of the household present false or altered documents or state a false position. If any member of the household use the name of the programme for electoral, political, religious proselytizing or profit purposes. If it is detected a duplication of the family in the Beneficiaries Register. |
Institutionality
| Legal framework: | Decree that creates the National Coordination of Prospera, Programme of Social Inclusion (September 2014) |
| Responsible organization(s): | Ministry of Social Development (SEDESOL) |
| Executing organization(s): | Coordinación Nacional de Prospera (National Coordination of Pospera) |
| Responsible organization(s) for the registry of recipients: | The organism responsible for the Beneficiaries Registry of the Prospera Program is the National Prospera Coordination.
The SIFODE and the PUB are managed by the Ministry of Social Development (SEDESOL) through the General Directorate of Geostatistics and Beneficiary Lists (DGGPB) The SIIPP-G is administered by the Ministry of Public Administration through the Public Management Control and Evaluation Unit (UCEGP) |
| Source of funding: | Government of Mexico, World Bank (WB) |
1) Food support
| Recipient(s): | All participant households of the programme. The families of this component can be assigned to the supports schemes with and without co-responsibility. |
| Mode of transfer: | Flat transfer |
| Mode of delivery: | Cash withdrawal Deposit in bank account |
| Periodicity of delivery: | Bimonthly |
| Recipient of the transfer: | Mother |
| Maximum per household: | One transfer per household |
| Conditionalities: | Health: Attendance at scheduled medical checks (for all household members, frequency differentiated according to age) Food: Allocate support corresponding to household nourishment and consume nutritional supplements. Others: attendance at health counseling. |
| Sanctions: | Monthly suspension if the family does not attend health controls or counseling sessions. If the family does not withdraw food supplements or fortified milk, depending on the frequency with which service providers provide this information, In two consecutive bimesters. Permanent suspension if the recipient or other members of the household sell or exchange food supplements or fortified milk received from the programme. |
| Comments: | The recipients have the assistance of the "Programa de Abasto Social de Leche", that enables families to buy low cost milk products with a high nutritional value. |
| Amount : | MXN $315/monthly; see Data Excel Format |
2) Support for school supplies
| Recipient(s): | Families with children attending primary and secondary education |
| Mode of transfer: | Transfer according to the characteristics of the recipient (increases according to the school grade attended) |
| Mode of delivery: | Cash withdrawal Deposit in bank account |
| Periodicity of delivery: | Primary education: Twice a year, Secondary Education: Once a year. |
| Recipient of the transfer: | Mother |
| Maximum per household: | One transfer per household |
| Conditionalities: | Education: 85% of school attendance |
| Comments: | In schools attended by CONAFE transfer is in kind (school supplies) |
| Amount : | Minimum amount of MXN $210 in the first delivery for year( the second is of MXN $110) and maximum amount of MXN $415 per year; see Selected figures |
3) Education support
| Recipient(s): | Families with children under 18 years old, attending primary, secondary and upper-middle school. The families of this component must be assigned to the Supports Scheme with Co-responsibility. |
| Mode of transfer: | Transfer according to characteristics of the recipient (increases with school grade level and for women) |
| Mode of delivery: | Cash withdrawal Deposit in bank account |
| Periodicity of delivery: | Bimonthly |
| Recipient of the transfer: | Mother |
| Maximum per household: | Limit depends on the number of transfers received by the household |
| Conditionalities: | Education: School attendance (85% attendance). |
| Sanctions: | Monthly suspension if students do not certify primary school attendance or if they accumulate a three-month suspension, or if they have 12 or more unexcused absences. For secondary school students if there is no certification of school attendance. Indefinite suspension if repeting the same course for the third time. Suspension is definitive if duplication of the recipient in the Integrated System of Registries is detected, if secondary school students have been receiving the state support for more than 4 years or drop out for two or more semesters, and if primary school students accumulate two annual suspensions because they have had 12 unjustified absences during the school year. |
| Amount : | Minimum amount of MXN $165/monthly and maximum of MXN $1,285; see Selected figures |
4) Food supplements
| Recipient(s): | |
| Recipient of the transfer: | Children 4 to 23 months old Children aged between 2 and 5 years with malnutrition Pregnant / breastfeeding women (up to 1 year) |
| Conditionalities: | Others: Health counseling sessions attendance |
| Comments: | Through the Integral Strategy of Nutrition Care, is delivered every two months new food supplements to reduce the malnutrition among the participants. |
| Description: | Daily nutritional supplement presented in two versions "Nutrisano" and "Nutrivida". The baby food provides up to 100% of micronutrient required daily, and 20% of the average daily calorie needed. It is made in three different flavors. |
5) Health
| Recipient(s): | All participant households. The families of this component must be assigned to the Supports Scheme with Co-responsibility. |
| Conditionalities: | Health: Preventive medical check ups attendance Other: Health counseling sessions attendance |
| Sanctions: | Monetary support may be suspended indefinitely, if in two consecutive semesters the household does not justify the health actions recorded in the National Health Card of all household members |
| Comments: | Incorporation of a territoral approach to assist specific needs of the families. Also, there is a new vaccination scheme that includes the human papilloma virus (HPV). |
| Description: | The aim is to guarantee the access to the Ensured Basic Health Pack, that contains 27 public health interventions of the Universal Catalogue of Health Services (CAUSES) that promotes and expands preventive health services, self-care and an adequate nutrition of households members and their communities. Moreover, considers patients referral to other location to those who requires complex care or treatment who are not availables at their local hospital. Lastly, participant families will have additional facilities to enrol to the Popular Insurance or to the 21st Century Medical Insurance targeted to children under 5 years. |
6) Youth with Prosperity education grant
| Recipient(s): | Students between 3rd year of junior high school and 4th year of high school |
| Mode of delivery: | Deposit in bank account |
| Periodicity of delivery: | At the conclusion of high school |
| Recipient of the transfer: | Student |
| Conditionalities: | Youth must be active participant of Prospera programme and end high school before age 22 |
| Sanctions: | The participants that decide to reenrollment on a high school system, will not have the right to receive a new transfer. |
| Description: | The cash transfer is paid through a bank account for each year of upper-middle school approved and can be withdrawn at the end of the school. |
| Amount : | MXN $ 4,599 and MXN $5,956 (in the urban model) once at the conclusion of high school; see Selected figures |
7) Energy Subsidy
| Recipient(s): | All participant households of the programme |
| Mode of transfer: | Flat transfer |
| Mode of delivery: | Cash withdrawal Deposit in bank account |
| Periodicity of delivery: | Bimonthly |
| Recipient of the transfer: | Mother |
| Maximum per household: | One transfer per household |
| Conditionalities: | Others: Health counseling sessions attendance |
| Sanctions: | Monthly suspension if the family does not attend health controls or counseling sessions. |
| Comments: | Established 2007. Since 2012, the Energy Allowance was fusioned with the Food Support. |
8) Old persons support
| Recipient(s): | Adults over 70 years of age. The families of this component must be assigned to the Supports Scheme with Co-responsibility. |
| Mode of transfer: | Flat transfer |
| Mode of delivery: | Cash withdrawal Deposit in bank account |
| Periodicity of delivery: | Bimonthly |
| Recipient of the transfer: | Direct participant |
| Maximum per household: | Limit amount by the number of transfers received by the household |
| Conditionalities: | Health: Assistance to health controls every 6 months |
| Sanctions: | Definitive suspension if not attending health check-ups for two or more consecutive semesters, if the recipient of the "70 and over" pension, household abandonment, and death of the recipient. |
| Comments: | Established in 2006. Incompatible with the "70 and over" programme. |
| Amount : | MXN $345/monthly; see Data Excel format |
9) Vivir Mejor food support component
| Recipient(s): | All participant households of the programme |
| Mode of transfer: | Flat transfer |
| Mode of delivery: | Cash withdrawal Deposit in bank account |
| Periodicity of delivery: | Bimonthly |
| Recipient of the transfer: | Mother |
| Maximum per household: | One transfer per household |
| Conditionalities: | Food: Allocate support corresponding to household nourishment and consume nutritional supplements. Health: Health counseling sessions attendance |
| Sanctions: | Monthly suspension if the family does not attend health controls or counseling sessions. If the family does not withdraw food supplements or fortified milk, depending on the frequency with which service providers provide this information. Definitive suspension in case of food supplements sale |
| Comments: | Established in 2008, and consists on a temporary assistance to face the rising worldwide food prices. Since 2010, it operates through the Food Support Programme (PAL) |
| Amount : | MXN $130/monthly; see Selected figures |
10) Vivir Mejor child support component
| Recipient(s): | Children between 0 and 9 years. The families of this component can be assigned to the supports schemes with and without co-responsibility. |
| Mode of transfer: | Flat transfer |
| Mode of delivery: | Cash withdrawal Deposit in bank account |
| Periodicity of delivery: | Bimonthly |
| Recipient of the transfer: | Mother |
| Maximum per household: | One transfer per household |
| Conditionalities: | Targeting support for household food and nutritional supplements consumed Identification: Birth certificate Education: School enrollment (it does not apply to the families in the support scheme without co-responsibility) |
| Sanctions: | Monthly suspension if the household does not attend health controls or counseling sessions. Definitive suspension if the child is a recipient of the educational support component of Oportunidades and in case of sale of dietary supplements. |
| Comments: | Operated through the Food Support Program (PAL) |
| Amount : | MXN $115/monthly with a maximum of thre supports per households (MXN $345); see Selected figures |
11) Higher education scholarships
| Recipient(s): | Young people with completed high school. The families of this component can be assigned to the supports schemes with and without co-responsibility. |
| Description: | The young people who are recipients of Prospera and are willing to continue with their tertiary education, will have access to different scholarships offered by the National Coordinatio of Scholarships for Higher Education. Also, those who get enrolled in the university, will receive a special transfer of 4.890 pesos. |
12) Financial inclusion
| Recipient(s): | Women living on participant households |
| Description: | Through the Mexican Social Bank, the programme delivers financial tools to reduce the financial inclusion gap and to improve the living conditions. This component include financial education, savings promotion, a life insurance, and access to a credit line with 9,99% interest rate per year. |
13) Labour inclusion
| Recipient(s): | Young people living in participant households, who are unemployed |
| Description: | The programme receives the support of the Ministry of Employment and Social Prevision, offering a priority access to the positions provided by the Employment National Service (150,000 per year), and to the trainings of the Bécate programme (15,000 seats per year). The aim is to improve the purchasing power of the families via actions that facilitate the inclusion in the labour market, contributing to a proggresive exit of the poverty condition. |
14) Productive exits
| Recipient(s): | Adults in working age, living in participant households |
| Description: | Participants of the programme will have the support to obtain an earning source to enable them for poverty exit via salaried or autonomous work. To achieve it, families will have priority access to 15 productive programmes. |
Why do conditional cash transfer programmes fail to target the poor? The case of urban areas in Mexico
| Author: | Levasseur, P. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| Publication info: | CEPAL Review no. 133 |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Implementation research |
Effect of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs When the Head of the Household Is Female in Mexico
| Author: | Rubio-Sanchez, Y., Rodríguez-Juárez, E. and Polo, S. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| Publication info: | Journal of International Women's Studies, 22 (3), 3-12 |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Implementation research |
Program Impact Pathways and Contexts: A Commentary on Theoretical Issues and Research Applications to Support the EsIAN Component of Mexico's Conditional Cash Transfer Program
| Author: | Habicht, J-P and Pelto, G. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| Publication info: | The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 149, Issue Supplement_1, December 2019, Pages 2332S–2340S |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Implementation research |
A Fortified Food Can Be Replaced by Micronutrient Supplements for Distribution in a Mexican Social Protection Program Based on Results of a Cluster-Randomized Trial and Costing Analysis
| Author: | Neufeld, L., García-Guerra, A., Quezada, A., Théodore, F., Bonvecchio, A., Domínguez, C., Garcia-Feregrino, R., Hernandez, A., Colchero, A. and Habicht, J. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| Publication info: | The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 149, Issue Supplement_1, December 2019, Pages 2302S–2309S |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Implementation research |
Sociocultural Influences on Poor Nutrition and Program Utilization of Mexico's Conditional Cash Transfer Program
| Author: | Théodore, F., Bonvecchio Arenas, A., García-Guerra, A., Blanco García, I., Alvarado, R., Rawlinson, C., Neufeld, L. and Pelto, G. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| Publication info: | The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 149, Issue Supplement_1, December 2019, Pages 2290S–2301S |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Implementation research |
Closing the Nutrition Impact Gap Using Program Impact Pathway Analyses to Inform the Need for Program Modifications in Mexico’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program
| Author: | García-Guerra, A., Neufeld, L., Bonvecchio Arenas, A., Fernández-Gaxiola, A., Mejía-Rodríguez, F., García-Feregrino, R. y Rivera-Dommarco, J. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| Publication info: | J Nutr 2019;149:2281S–2289S. |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Evaluación de impacto |
Impacts of PROSPERA on Enrollment, School Trajectories, and Learning
| Author: | Behrman, J., Parker, S. and Todd, P. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| Publication info: | World Bank, Policy Research Working Paper 9000 |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Impact evaluation |
Intergenerational Social Mobility Based on the Investments in Human Capital: Evidence of the Long-Term Results of PROSPERA in Health
| Author: | Gutiérrez, J., Shamah-Levy, T., Bertozzi, S. and Rivera-Dommarco, J. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| Publication info: | SSRN Electronic Journal. Policy Research Working Paper 9001 |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Impact evaluation |
Evaluation of Programs with Multiple Objectives: Multidimensional Methods and Empirical Application to Progresa in Mexico
| Author: | Vaz, A., Malaeb, B. and Naïri, N. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| Publication info: | Research study, University of Oxford. Research in progress series 55a |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Impact evaluation |
Long-Term Effects of PROSPERA on Welfare
| Author: | Aguilar, A., Barnard, C. and De Giorgi, G. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| Publication info: | World Bank, Policy Research Working Paper 9002 |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Impact evaluation |
El Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera, a 20 años de su creación.
| Author: | Hernández Licona, G., De la Garza, T., Zamudio, J. and Yaschine, I. (coords.) |
| Date: | 2019 |
| Publication info: | Ciudad de México: CONEVAL. |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Detailed historical information about the program and impact evaluations |
Labor Market Equilibrium Effects of Cash Transfers: Evidence from a Structural Model and a Randomized Experiment
| Author: | Lehmann, C. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| Publication info: | ANPEC: Area 13 - Economia do Trabalho |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Evaluation model and impact evaluation |
Digital financial services go a long way: transaction costs and financial inclusion
| Author: | Bachas, P., Gertler, P., Higgins, S., and Seira, E. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| Publication info: | AEA Papers and Proceedings, Vol. 108, pp. 444–448. |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Impact evaluation |
Financial technology adoption
| Author: | Higgins, S. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| Publication info: | Job market paper |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Impact evaluation |
The Targeting Benefit of Conditional Cash Transfers
| Author: | Bergstrom, K. and Dodds, W. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| Publication info: | Job market paper |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Impact evaluation |
Improving Financial Inclusion through the Delivery of Cash Transfer Programmes: The Case of Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera Programme
| Author: | Masino, S. and Niño-Zarazúa M. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| Publication info: | The Journal of Development Studies, online article |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Impact evaluation |
20 años después: Cambios y continuidades de PROSPERA desde la perspectiva de funcionarios y exfuncionarios gubernamentales de alto nivel y evaluadores externos al programa.
| Author: | Triano, M. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| Publication info: | Working paper from Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | General information |
Poverty dynamics and graduation from conditional cash transfers: a transition model for Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera program
| Author: | Villa, J., and Niño-Zarazúa, M. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| Publication info: | The Journal of Economic Inequality |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Impact evaluation |
Do CCTs improve employment and earnings in the very long-term? Evidence from Mexico
| Author: | Kugler, A. and Rojas, I. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| Publication info: | NBER Working Paper No. 24248 |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Impact evaluation |
Debunking the Stereotype of the Lazy Welfare Recipient: Evidence from Cash Transfer Programs
| Author: | Banerjee et al. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| Publication info: | The World Bank Research Observer, vol. 32, no. 2 (August 2017) |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Impact evaluation |
Cash transfer programmes, poverty reduction and women’s economic empowerment: Experience from Mexico
| Author: | Mónica E. Orozco Corona and Sarah Gammage |
| Date: | 2017 |
| Publication info: | ILO Working paper No. 1/2017 |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Impact evaluation on female impowerment |
Conditional Cash Transfers: The Case of Progresa/Oportunidades
| Author: | Parker, S. and Todd, P. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| Publication info: | Journal of Economic Literature 2017, 55(3), 866–915 from American Economic Association |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | Impact evaluation |
¿Cómo funciona Prospera? Mejores prácticas en la implementación de Programas de Transferencias Monetarias Condicionadas en América Latina y el Caribe
| Author: | Dávila, L. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| Publication info: | Nota técnica No. IDB-TN-971 |
| Link: | See Webpage |
| Topic: | General Information |
