Jaime Saavedra was one of our top macroeconomists at the World Bank before he accepted his current position as Peru's current Education Minister, World Bank Group (WBG) President Jim Yong Kim affirmed on Friday.
"As a brilliant economist, Jaime knew that Peru’s future would depend on a more effective educational system. With President Humala’s strong leadership, Peru has increased its education budget by 90 percent and important reforms are underway," Jim expressed.
The WBG officer went on to add Peru has also been a "leader in investing in the health and well-being of women and children."
He reminded in 2005 28% of Peru’s children were stunted; a condition that imposes permanent limits on cognitive and physical development due to malnourishment and lack of appropriate stimulation during pregnancy and early childhood.
According to Jim, this easily preventable condition impairs learning ability and lowers lifetime earnings.
"In just eight years, the country reduced the rate of stunting by half, to 14%. They used results-based financing to reward programs that produced better health, social development and sanitation outcomes. And they targeted assistance to those areas most in need, resulting in rapid progress in rural areas and the poorest communities," he pointed out.
"Even in hard times, there should be no retreat from investing in people as well as supporting social protection programs that prevent people from plunging back into poverty," Jim expressed.
Juntos Program
"When it comes to ensuring that people stay out of poverty, Latin America has set a high global standard. One of the best programs is Peru’s Programa Juntos, which began a decade ago," the anthropologist underlined.
Juntos has reached half a million poor families with conditional cash transfers worth $38 dollars each month, based on regular health and nutrition check-ups for young children.
(END) MVB