The Independent Party brought the president, Luis Lacalle Pou, a bill proposing the creation of the “Childhood Fund”, cWith the aim of reducing the child poverty in it Uruguaywhich they estimate would be voted on in the current Accountability.
About 160,000 boys and girls are poor in the country in 2022, according to official data confirming that, of the total poverty index, the 19.7% are people under 18 years of age, which meant an increase in 18.6% compared to the previous year. In dialogue with Radio Carve, the deputy for the Independent Party, Iván Posada, He assured that the creation of this fund would provide some solutions to this structural problem.
The deputy assured that the situation of poverty mainly affects Uruguayan children and adolescents since, of the total poverty index, 89% are children and adolescents of 0 to 17 years old living with adults over 18 years old. “He 89% of poverty in Uruguay It is contained in these homes where children and adults live together,” Posada explained.
In this sense, Posada assured that the fund would provide a specific and focused response to complement the current subsidies provided to the population.
It takes twice as much money to cut child poverty in half
Uruguay currently has three forms of subsidies for poor children: family allowances, Equity Plan and the Uruguay Social Card that cost the state 360 million dollars per yearToday, according to Posada, one of the challenges will be to increase the resources for this fund.
The deputy assured that, based on the last discussion on the merits and on numbers provided by the United Nations strategy adviser, Gustavo de Armas, with 453 million more than what is currently used, would cut child poverty in half. This number would represent the 1.15% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Uruguay.
However, the deputy clarified that the increase in transfers alone is not enough, although he believes them to be totally necessary, but that they would be accompanied by conditions and obligations to be fulfilled by the beneficiaries. That is why this fund was created with the aim of having an entity that specifically manages the resources.
A board of directors of the fund
This Fund would have an administrative council that would be made up of the Minister of Social Development, martin mottowho would act as its president and would be made up of the president of the Institute for Children and Adolescents of Uruguay (Inau), paul abdala, the director of the Office of Planning and Budget, Alvaro Garcia, Housing and Territorial Planning, Raul Lozano Bonet, the president of the National Administration of Public Education (ANEP), Robert Silvathe president of the Social Welfare Bank (BPS), Alfredo Cabrera and also the president of the National Administration of State Health Services (ASSE), Leonardo Cipriani.
“The idea is to bring together those who have responsibilities and those who decide on political matters that are oriented, among other powers, towards children and adolescents to lead a fund that will have to implement an annual action plan oriented towards this target population” , explained Posada, who remarked that the fund would function as a financier, making agreements with public or private institutions.
Source: Ambito
