Within the framework of the Month of Early Childhood, the Institute for Children and Adolescents of Uruguay (INAU) carried out, on Monday 23, the activity “Hand in hand with early childhood”. At the opening table, the head of Social Development, Martín Lema, said that the portfolio executes 30 million dollars for this population between transfers, hiring of technicians and modernization of information systems.
The day presented as a workshop aimed at families and organizations, in the annex building of the Legislative Palace, also included the participation, in its opening, of the head of the INAU, Pablo Abdala; the director of the Early Childhood Program, Laura Enciso; and the director of the Executive Secretariat for Early Childhood, Luján González, together with national legislators.
Minister Lema maintained that the authorities must be held accountable for what they have done, but the real executors of the measures are those who work with the families, for which he highlighted the technical teams. “They are the ones who know the details of each story,” he said, and pondered each stage in the process they carry out.
In addition, he expressed that the policy prospers if it benefits those who should reach it, in this case, the children, and recalled that when an increase of 50 million dollars was provided for this purpose, in the 2021 accountability, a new responsibility. “It is the money of the Uruguayans and you have to be very precise,” he said.
In this sense, he detailed how this budget increase is distributed: Mides executes 30 million dollars, which include the Parenting Bonus for 29,271 children; accompaniment programs, for which it hired some 100 specialists to work in vulnerable areas, and social diagnoses, for which technicians were incorporated into the country’s 23 public maternities. He also explained that socio-educational inclusion is promoted through scholarships and mentioned the modernization of information systems in care services.
“It may be unfair for a person to receive social benefits without having the corresponding requirements, but it is much more unfair that someone who does have the requirements is left out,” Lema analyzed, and argued that with better information systems the probability is reduced. of leaving without social benefits to citizens who comply with the obligations.
In addition, he listed other initiatives of the Mides in favor of early childhood, such as the bonuses executed with UTE of up to 90% in the rates, which cover 118,000 households in a situation of vulnerability with 53,000 children between 0 and 6 years old, and the elimination of the income limit to maintain the family allowances of the Equity Plan.
The minister also reported that the portfolio will provide a reinforcement of 1,500 pesos per beneficiary between June and September inclusive to these allocations, which will benefit 130,000 children from 0 to 6 years old.
In his speech, Abdala valued the participation of academic representatives in this instance, as well as the commitment of the community as a whole. “Society must assume how much is at stake at this stage of life,” he said.
He considered it important that there be a month dedicated to reflection and debate on the subject, however, he indicated that throughout the year both civil society and the Government should work for this purpose. “Investment in early childhood is an urgent need and, without a doubt, it is the investment with the highest social rate of return,” he said.
The head of the INAU expressed that all the programs that attend to children in this stage of life and their families go through the centrality of public policies from the Government, and welcomed the parliamentary treatment arranged in 2021 in the field of accountability for the expansion of operational capacity, which includes new projects and customer service centers. In this sense, he highlighted that the objective for the end of the period is to expand the coverage of the CAIF Plan to 17,000 quotas.
The day continued with a conference by the pediatrician and neonatologist José Luis Díaz Roselló and with presentations by families involved, civil society organizations and care teams. Presidency
