Children and Youth Protection Project

closed

The development objectives of the Children and Youth Protection Project for Argentina are to: (i) expand coverage of the family allowances programs; and (ii) improve transparency of social protection programs implemented by social security national administration (ANSES). The project comprises of four components. The first component, universal child allowance program financing will finance the provision of universal child allowance (AUH) grants to AUH beneficiaries. The second component, closing the coverage gaps of the AUH program will support: (i) an active search to complete missing information of nearly 1.5 million children that currently prevents them from being considered as potential beneficiaries of AUH; and (ii) efforts to correct information on compliance with the co-responsibilities in ANSES database that, as of February 2016, excludes 537,000 children from receiving benefits. It consists of three sub-components: (i) gathering information from provincial civil registries and other agencies; (ii) gathering information at the local level; and (iii) improving access to AUH for indigenous populations. The third component, institutional strengthening of ANSES on information procedures and transparency and project management aims to provide solutions to avoid further coverage gaps of the AUH program by strengthening the data collection systems of ANSES; improving transparency through access to information on social security programs; improving grievance mechanisms and citizen engagement related to social security benefits, particularly in the AUH program; and supporting project management. It consists of two sub-components: (i) improving information of management procedures and transparency; and (ii) project management. The fourth component, institutional strengthening of the ministry of social development and project management will finance activities aimed at strengthening the Ministry of Social Development (MDS’) capacity to manage, coordinate, and monitor social protection programs and its project implementation unit. It consists of two sub-components: (i) strengthening planning and coordination functions of MDS and project management; and (ii) strengthening of MDS’s capacity on monitoring and evaluation.