The fiscal crisis that the National Government is going through will not affect, for now, the heart of the social programs of the administration of Gustavo Petro, which are monetary transfers.
This was assured by the new director of the Department of Social Prosperity, Mauricio Rodríguez, who in an interview with Portafolio said that there is full guarantee of resources to meet subsidy payments in the remainder of 2025.
“Transfers are insured. We have not had any inconvenience with cash flows and we have not received hacienda instructions that there is some affectation,” said Rodríguez, who in fact It was emphatic in stating that the plan is to expand the coverage of social programs, not reduce it.
See here: ‘He loves us in the photo, but not in decision making ‘: France Márquez against Petro
Rodríguez, who assumed the position at the end of June, arrives with a clear road map, focused on moving from a policy focused exclusively on turns to a vision that articulates productive investment, popular economy and territorial development. For him, the DPS “cannot be a transfers machine”, but a key actor in the structural overcoming of poverty.
Guaranteed subsidies, even with narrow box
Starting from the fact that social prosperity executes the resources of the Citizen Income Program, which delivers bimonnsual transfers of up to $ 500,000 to households in extreme poverty or with female headquarters, Rodríguez indicated that this year, the goal is to reach more than 2.8 million homes, without affecting the commitment to optimally operate the pillar Solidarity of the new pension system, which will benefit millions of older adults without pension.
Prosperity seeks that aids in Colombia become an impulse to production.
Chatgpt image
Given the doubts generated by the difficult cash situation of the government, which has had to resort to debt exchanges, international loans and mass purchases of Tes, Mauricio Rodríguez launched a message of tranquility, in the face of “we are working in all budget planning for 2025-2026, and resources for social programs are contemplated”.
In addition, he reiterated that the commitment to the solidarity pillar of the pension reform It is still firm and “we are ready to assume that challenge. We have already been part of the technical design, and when it enters into force, the DPS will have all the operational and financial capacity to implement that component,” he said.
It may interest you: What does the binational area between Colombia and Venezuela contain?
One of Rodríguez’s main emphasis is that social spending must cease to be purely welfare, since in his vision, social policy needs to evolve towards a more transformative approach, focused on strengthening productive capacities in the territories.
“The DPS has to change. It cannot continue to turn money without articulating with other public policies. Our challenge is that people They leave poverty by sustainable means, not for a permanent transfer, ”he explained.
Mauricio Rodríguez, director of Social Prosperity.
Courtesy – API
To achieve this, the new management team is designing an intervention model that combines three elements, which are conditioned monetary transfer, the delivery of basic productive supplies or assets and training for associativity and business management; While “we want to articulate with the Ministry of Agriculture, the SENA and the mayorships so that communities can generate their own income.”
Cooperatives, supplies and credit for the popular economy
On the other hand, the new DPS approach also bets strongly on the popular economy, a point in which the new director considers that this sector, which represents about 32% of GDP, has historically been stigmatized and subsequent and insisted that “We have to stop seeing the popular economy as a problem. It is part of the solution.”
Therefore, in the new DPS strategy, support programs will go beyond the resource rotation and cooperatives, neighborhood ventures, rural projects and access to microcredit as tools to transform the productive basis of the most vulnerable.
Also read: 120 years of Carulla: This has been the transformation of their warehouses
“Popular credit has to arrive with state support. People need assets such as An oven, a fridge, a tool, inputs. But you also need to know how to use them and how to hold a business. That is why we are going to articulate training, financing and accompaniment, ”said Mauricio Rodríguez.
Work with mayors and traceability
Another of the keys will be the decentralization of social programs, arguing that the experience in the territories demonstrates that many projects are stopped due to lack of articulation with local governments and that is why the DPS will seek to sign agreements with mayors and governorates, especially in areas with high levels of extreme poverty, to co -finance productive initiatives.
“The mayor who wants to work with us will have an answer. But whoever asks for resources without project or traceability, no. We are going to work seriously and with rigorous evaluation mechanisms. We want to show that social investment can be transformative if it is done well,” he explained.
Prosperity seeks that aids in Colombia become an impulse to production.
Chatgpt image
In that line, Rodríguez announced that one of its objectives is to improve the traceability and impact evaluation systems and explained that “we will know how many people They left poverty, not only how many they received money. That is the difference between assistance and development. ”
They are ready for the solidarity pillar
On the role of DPS in the implementation of the pension reform, Rodríguez said that the entity already actively participates in the design of the solidarity pillar, which will cover older adults without pension through a basic income financed by the State.
“We are aligned with the Ministry of Labor and Colpensiones. The DPS will be the entity that channels these resources, and we already have the operational, technological and territorial experience to do so. We are only waiting for the entry into force of the law, ”he said.
More information: Coal to Israel: This Petro government document authorized Drummond for export
Currently, the DPS already manages the Colombia Mayor program, which delivers about $ 80,000 per month to more than 1.6 million older adults; taking into account that the new solidarity pillar would expand it significantly and raise it to a more dignified and sustainable amount.
Rodríguez closed the interview with the emphatic message that “there is no improvisation here. We are planning each step with technical, financial and social responsibility. And that people are clear: social programs continue. And we will not allow them to be used for political purposes. This is a public policy, not a campaign. ”
Mauricio Rodríguez, director of Social Prosperity.
Courtesy – API
Likewise, he argued that with his arrival at the DPS the government seeks to turn social policy: of the massive turns without articulation, to a more intelligent, structured and productive intervention, since if the plan is concretized, social prosperity will cease to be only the payer of subsidies, to become one of the pillars of local economic development.
Daniel Hernández Naranjo
Portfolio journalist
