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Lorena Moreno
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Analiti a, Revista de análisis estadístico, Vol. 13 (1), 2017
3 Context and motivation
3.1 Ecuador and the Human Development Bonus
In Ecuador, the first attempt to implement a transfer dates from September 1998 with
the launching of the
Bono Solidario
programme under the presidency of Jamil Mahuad.
Initially, this transfer was thought to be a compensatory measure to the eventual reduction
and elimination of gas and electricity subsidies, and did not included co-responsibilities.
However, approximately one year after, an economic and financial crisis struck the country,
and the transfer became a tool to retaliate the negative effects. Three groups of people
were prioritised for the Bono reception, first, mothers in families with at least one child
younger than 18 years, a monthly income less than 40 US$ and no permanent salary or
social security benefits for the parents. Second, elders of 65 years old and more, with similar
income restrictions as for the mothers. Third, persons with a disability percentage of 70%
or more between 18 and 65 years. No other technical criteria was applied for beneficiaries’
selection, therefore, the Bono was an auto-focalised benefit since people that believed should
receive it, would go collect it from the government delegated offices (Le´on, 2000).
In 2003 the
BDH
was implemented as an improved version of the
Bono Solidario
. Up
to date, there are three distinguishable stages of the BDH. The type of beneficiaries were
divided into the same three groups but conditions and technical selection criteria was in-
cluded, while the amount of the benefit increased subsequently. In the first stage focalisation
was implemented on the basis of 0 to 100 compound index named
Sistema de Selecci´on de
Beneficiarios
(SELBEN), which intended to identify nuclear families with limited capabili-
ties to generate income; also, conditionality on education and health was introduced. The
bond was given on a monthly basis and the amount was 15US$ for mothers and 7,5US$
for the other two groups. The total of the transfers came to represent 1% of the country’s
GDP and approximately 11% of the beneficiaries’ expenses by 1999. By the year 2000 about
1,2 million people were recipients, corresponding to 45% of the Ecuadorian households (Vos
et al., 2001).
The second stage initiated by the end of 2007 under the government of Rafael Correa.
The process started with the registry of families located in areas with the highest poverty
levels according to the 2001 Population and Housing Census, as a tool for tracking and
monitoring potential recipients. Additionally, the index was updated, and both the database
and the index were named
Registro Social
(RS). The amount was originally fixed at 30US$
for all types but then increased to 35US$ (Ponce, 2013). From this stage, the authorities
directed efforts towards a more efficient system and the main institution in charge was the
Coordinating Ministry of Social Development (MCDS).
The third stage started in 2013 with updates both on the registry
1
and the index renamed
1
The mentioned registry updates were run by supply, though the database is constantly amended on
demand.
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