Latin America and the Caribbean have “unacceptably high” levels of poverty and inequality that require a social reform agenda in which the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) can offer its expertise.
This was stated to EFE by the main adviser to the IDB’s vice presidency for sectors and knowledge, Ana María Ibáñez, on the first day of the annual meetings of the development bank, which was held this Thursday in Panama City.
“The region has unacceptably high levels of poverty and unacceptably high inequality. 30% of the population is poor, 188 million people ”, he highlighted, of which 106 million live in extreme poverty.
And it is that with the pandemic “ten years of progress were reversed” and it became clear that the region “is very fragile” and “in the face of a shock, a very high percentage of the population may fall back into poverty,” he added.
Ibáñez participated this Thursday in the seminar “How to renew social investments for a more effective fight against poverty and inequality”, which inaugurated the first of the days prior to the IDB assembly to be held this weekend.
“Our social protection programs are not enough and we must design protection programs that are much more flexible and that when there are complicated shocks that population is protected with a mattress,” added Ibáñez.
Thus, according to the bank, Latin American countries must carry out a new reform agenda in the social sphere to achieve inclusive growth, with more modern and equitable social protection that protects citizens against crises.
In Ibáñez’s opinion, the development bank can help countries in several dimensions. From “the traditional thing that a bank does”, which is to grant resources for “programs that help increase the productivity of the countries, to improve the quality of education or health”.
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Even “offering expertise”- “The IDB is a bank of knowledge and we have many people who can help countries to make the reforms that have to be done at this time,” he said.
Among the successful projects in which the IDB In recent years, there has been a program to support digital transformation with a special focus on equity, such as the Digital Girls Program in Peru, through which women receive training in digital skills, cybersecurity, and programming.
Thanks to an IDB loan, some 3.3 million women are benefiting from a project that aims to double the percentage of women who use the internet in Peru to interact with state organizations from 8.5% to 17%.
Or the “Let’s all learn to read” program, carried out in Colombia, Panama and Brazil, which provides tools for teachers to focus their efforts on literacy in the early grades, which to date has benefited 703,277 children. and public school teachers.
The seminars this Thursday marked the start of the annual meeting of the IDB, which will be held on Saturday and Sunday, the 63rd edition of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the IDB and the 37th edition of the Board of Governors of IDB Invest, the financial arm of the organization.
As the IDB secretary, Gerardo Corrochano, told the press, the “new strategy and vision for the bank” of its new president, the Brazilian Ilan Goldfajn, who took office last January, will be presented at this meeting.
A new vision that will have as central themes “the part of social sectors, the formation of human capital, health, education, social protection” and also “climate change and sustainability”; all of this “framed within the mission of making the bank more effective,” he added.
