About the Speaker: Enrique Vásquez H. is an economist with degrees from the Universidad del Pacífico (Lima, Perú) and the University of Oxford (UK).  He has been the University Director and a socio-economic researcher with 30 years of experience in teaching, lecturing, applied research, management, advising governments, and serving as a consultant to top firms, international organizations, and NGOs. He is the author/editor of 40 specialized publications. He has spoken at international forums in 41 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa

Abstract: During the 2000-2015 period, most Latin American and South Asian countries experienced relatively high rates of economic growth. In parallel, their poverty rates reduced significantly. Although economic growth by itself is an important variable when discussing poverty -because of its ability to promote decent jobs for the heads of less qualified households, the redistributive role of the State is equally important to attain more equitable and inclusive societies. Generally, this role is embodied in poverty alleviation programs (PAPs), whose main goal is to relief temporarily problems that affect the poor groups left outside because of the economic model implementation with the provision of public goods. This paper focuses on the experience of the above-mentioned countries regarding the implementation and effectiveness of PAPs.  Employing a life-cycle approach to classify PAPs properly, we evaluate, compare and obtain lessons from both continents’ countries regarding six important aspects of the development of the programs: how to identify beneficiaries, supply chain management of public goods, systems of information, education and training, the monitoring and evaluation systems, the process of graduation of final recipients, and institutional coordination. From this analysis we obtain six important lessons for the implementation of new PAPs and the improvement of existing ones.