PROGRESA

OVERVIEW

Progresa is a subsidy program that gives educational grants to the poorest families in rural Mexico.  The program is designed to target only the very poorest families and aims to reduce differential schooling rates between the poor and wealthy households.  An evaluation in which villages were randomly assigned finds that the Progresa program was effective in increasing enrollment rates and education levels of children in poor families.  Progresa was also effective in decreasing the economic inequality of education rates for poor compared with wealthy households.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: the poorest rural families in Mexico

The Progresa poverty program is based on a "demand" approach to increasing education rates among the poor.  This means that the program targets only the poorest families rather than previous "supply" approaches which target whole communities.  The criticism of supply approaches is that they are not especially effective in increasing education rates among the poorest families and that most benefits are received by well-to-do families.  Progresa's approach is to provide educational grants for rural families who are identified as the "poorest" using census data.  Children had to attend at least 85% of school days to keep receiving this grant and it is hypothesized that this requirement and the families' supplemental income will increase the likelihood that the child attends school as opposed to working for additional income.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Schultz, T. P. (2001).  School subsidies for the poor: Evaluating the Mexican Progresa poverty program (CDP No. 834).  New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University, Economic Growth Center.

Evaluated population: 19,716 children of the poorest rural Mexican families aged 5-16 years

Approach: 314 out of 495 eligible communities were randomly assigned to treatment conditions.  The remaining 181 communities made up the control group which received no treatment.  In treatment communities, census data was used to determine the poorest families who would be eligible for the intervention.  Students of these families had to be in grades 3 through 9 and attending at least 85% of school days.  Compensation rates varied depending on sex and grade level of the child and were adjusted periodically for inflation rates.  The researchers examined measures on enrollment rates, educational attainment, and other variables associated with family structure changes and cost/benefit program outcomes.

Results: Enrollment rates for children in Progresa treatment communities were higher than those in control communities.  Impacts were larger in sixth grade, than earlier grades and larger for girls than boys (14.8 and 6.5 percentage point increases, respectively). Economic inequality in school enrollments was decreased in treatment communities compared with controls.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References

Schultz, T. P. (2001).  School subsidies for the poor: Evaluating the Mexican Progresa poverty program (CDP No. 834).  New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University, Economic Growth Center.

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: ages 5-16 / Program age ranges in the Guide: mid-childhood, adolescence

Program components: community or media campaign; parent or family component

Measured outcomes: education and cognitive development

Program information last updated 4/1/08