The PROGRESA programme: Breaking the cycle of poverty

This policy brief summarises the main lessons learned from the different analyses and assessments carried out on the PROGRESA programme. The Programme for Education, Health and Food (PROGRESA) was run by the federal Mexican government from 1997. It is a cash transfer programme that targets poor rural families on condition that the children go regularly to school and for health checks. To support the federal government, IFPRI followed the programme from 1998 and was able to assess the impact over time.

The recommendations from these impacts studies have guided the direction the programme has taken. Many articles have been written about this IFPRI assessment. Based on these articles, this policy brief answers the questions that arise about the impact of the programme on:

• Poverty level
• School attendance
• Health and nutrition
• Households (capital and decision process).

The authors emphasise the success of the programme in all these fields. One of the keys to success has been the determination to act on all aspects of poverty (income, human capital, health, food), particularly through the programme monitoring and evaluation.

 IFPRI