After knowing the official data showing a decrease in poverty in the first semester of 2021, the Ministry of Social Development (Mides) is preparing to start the 2022 with a series of “more structural” definitions who will have the focus on early childhood and that will extend, at least, throughout the next year.
“The measures we have prepared are more structural, more couples than we had already taken, “he told The Observer Minister Martín Lema and stressed that the figures for the improvement in poverty rates occurred during the worst of the pandemic and, therefore, now that the virus seems to be retreating, even better news can be expected.
The Secretary of State pointed out that the assistance given by Mides, the economic reactivation and the recovery of job sources explain the figures from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) on the decline in poverty indicators.
The first biannual report of the INE presented this Monday indicates the decrease of this figure by one 11.6% at the end of last year, down to 10.2% in the first six months: the reduction of 1.4 points is equivalent, in real terms, to about 50 thousand less poor people compared to the end of 2020.
With this framework, the Mides proposal for the coming year consists of more than one axis and includes children between zero and four years old, as well as their families.
The details are developed in the document “Early childhood program” to which you accessed The Observer –whose content was outlined in the Accountability – and there it is developed that one of the pillars is “Strengthen family support programs in homes in vulnerable situations.” This axis focuses on “guaranteeing access to social services for families”, especially in the follow-up of health and nutrition controls and stimulation of child-rearing practices, and it seeks the strengthening of care policies in early childhood. This implies, above all, “improve educational insertion”, secure the document.
The text also refers to “breeding bonus”, which was announced by Mides weeks ago and is aimed especially at the 30,000 poorest households with children between zero and four years old. In 2022, the bond will have a value of two thousand pesos and “will aim to encourage access to goods and services.” Its objective is “to alleviate child poverty and reduce its severity,” the document emphasizes.
Likewise, social technicians in 23 maternity wards across the country in order to “achieve an early uptake and at times of situations of vulnerability in early childhood”; and about five thousand visits will be organized to homes with minors who have applied for the Uruguay Social Card during the pandemic in order to evaluate this mechanism.
Motto said to The Observer that there will be about 70 more technicians touring the territory and another 45 in remote assistance to, among other things, detect families with difficulties who are not receiving aid from the State.
It will also coordinate with other agencies to evaluate a better recruitment of the participants of all these programs.
No effect and under evaluation
In December it will be without effect the increase of two thousand five hundred pesos in family allowances in the case of children between zero and three years old and pregnant women, but Lema stressed The Observer that this It will not have a negative impact on the poorest sectors.
In addition, he pointed out that with the elimination of the salary limit to be able to continue collecting the allowances, announced for all of 2022, it could be reaching about 800 thousand people. He specified that socio-educational scholarships will be doubled to help those most in need to insert themselves into society.
In the first quarter of the year, likewise, Mides will have to evaluate another series of measures announced in recent months within the framework of the health emergency, such as the TuApp Coupon emergency basket, which is valid until March of next year.
The same happens with the support for popular pots, dining rooms and picnic areas that was established until April 2022, when a new evaluation is expected.
