LIMA PERÚ, ABRIL 23. Ministro de Economía, Alonso Segura, junto a la Ministra de Desarrollo e Inclusión Social, Paola Bustamante informan sobre los avances del gobierno en la lucha contra la pobreza. Foto: ANDINA/Melina Mejía
Peru’s Development and Social Inclusion Minister Paola Bustamante reaffirmed the government’s commitment to prioritize child support and boost sustainable development within the framework of the social inclusion policy.
“One of the current government’s priorities is to use sustainable economic growth to promote social inclusion,” she said while participating in the new edition of the international seminar titled: “Investing in Children in Latin America and the Caribbean,” held in Quito, Ecuador.
She recalled that President Humala’s administration approved the National Development and Social Inclusion Strategy “Include to Grow,” which allows the Executive Branch to work in cooperation with regional and local governments to reduce existing gaps.
Early child development has become a priority for the Peruvian government, hence the creation of the Stimulus Performance Fund and Achievement of Social Results (FED).
Such Fund rewards regional governments that reach coverage goals and commitments precisely oriented towards promoting early child development.
Later, she said the results-based budgeting, control panels, impact assessments are the tools used in Latin America and the Caribbean to measure public spending on children.
“The region is the pioneer in the use of such tools […],” Bustamante said as she presented the conclusions and progress made on the goals set last year’s “Investing in Children: A Commitment to Equity at 25 years of the Convention of Rights of the Children (CRC)” seminar.
Midis head pointed out that not only measuring investment in children at a national, regional and local level is important, but also standardizing methodologies, measures and statistics to ease the comparison between countries and repeat successful experiences.
She also said it is necessary to put more emphasis on the quality of expenditure, searching for an effective and equitable investment and taking into account excluded populations.
Finally, she considered essential to strengthen management capacities of regional and municipal authorities, link up with the private sector and bolster transparency and accountability, involving people’s participation.
(END) NDP/SMA/ASH/RMB
Published: 5/26/2015