PROGRESA (Programa de Educacion, Salud yAlimentacion) is an innovative Mexican program that providescash transfers to poor rural households, on condition thattheir children attend school and their family visits localhealth centers regularly. Confronted with rising povertyafter the economic crisis of 1995, the Mexican governmentprogressively changed its poverty reduction strategy, endinguniversal tortilla subsidies and instead funding newinvestment in human capital through PROGRESA. The programgives cash grants to poor rural households, provided theirchildren attend school for 85 percent of school days and thehousehold, visit public health clinics and participate ineducational workshops on health and nutrition. Founded in1997, PROGRESA grew to cover around 2.6 million families bythe end of 1999, the equivalent of 40 percent of all ruralfamilies, and one in nine families nationally. Operating in31 of the 32 states, in 50,000 localities and 2,000municipalities, its 1999 budget of US$777 million equaled0.2 percent of Mexico's gross domestic product. Thehigh level of funding for PROGRESA, and reduced funding forother programs, was based on a deliberate policy decision -to favor programs that are better targeted to the poor,which involve co-responsibility by beneficiaries, and whichpromote long-term behavioral change.
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