PROGRESA and Its Impacts on the Welfare of Rural Households in Mexico

IFPRI published a detailed impact study in 2005. It deals with the impact of the PROGRESA programme by looking at poverty reduction in rural households.

In early 1998, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) was asked to assist the PROGRESA administration to determine if PROGRESA is functioning in practice as it is intended to by design. This document synthesizes the findings contained in a series of reports prepared by IFPRI for PROGRESA between November 1998 and November 2000. PROGRESA is one of the major programs of the Mexican government aimed at developing the human capital of poor households. Targeting its benefits directly to the population in extreme poverty in rural areas, PROGRESA aims to alleviate current and future poverty levels through cash transfers to mothers in households. The cash transfers provided are conditioned on regular school attendance and visits to health care centers. At the end of 1999, PROGRESA covered approximately 2,6 million families, representing one ninth of all families in Mexico; the beneficiaries comprised about 40 percent of all rural families. At that time, the program operated in almost 50,000 localities in more than 2,000 municipalities and 31 states. PROGRESA’s budget of approximately US$777 million in 1999 was equivalent to 0.2 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product (GDP).

IFPRI