Social Policy and Programs Focused on Children in Peru (2010-2014): An Evaluation Based on the Multidimensional Poverty Index

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During the first decade of the new Millennium, the economic growth of Peru was impressive. According to the official statistics, the monetary index decreased dramatically. However, in 2011 a new government was elected because the gains of the economic boom was not tangible for the poorest and it was necessary a more inclusive approach of the economic and social policy. In this context, the government allocated US$3 mm dollars per year of public budget to social programs focused on children. This paper is an evaluation of the Peruvian government social expenditure focused on children. This issue is studied from two perspectives. On the one hand, the Multidimensional Poverty Index, based on Alkire Foster (2007) methodology has been applied to the LSMS (2010-14) taking into consideration the different age groups of children, ethnic groups and geographical dominium. On the other hand, the social public expenditure focused on the main 6 government programs targeted on children has been analyzed based on data from the Integrated Financial Web System hosted by the Ministry of Economics and Finance. The primary findings of the paper draw the attention that the Peruvian public policy has implemented a regressive approach of the public social expenditure focused on children. Meanwhile many of the new law and policy instruments (2010-14) followed children rights approach, the public management allocated resources not taking into consideration of multidimensional poverty, vulnerability of ethnic groups and level of rurality. Moreover, a comparison of the monetary and multidimensional poverty indexes in Peru (2010-14) focused on children showed critical gaps of size of children population group. This gap might explain the fact that important part of the under-18 year old population was non-visible for the policymakers and economic managers. Thus, the lack of proper measurement of the real level of poverty of children could be misleading the allocation and use of public resources in Peru (2010-14). As a result, social conflicts at sub-national level in Peru could be nurturing.