Time to Reactivate the Blog...

This summer I'll be off on another adventure, so I am gearing up to (theoretically) start posting more regularly again. I am heading to Argentina for the next few months to:

(1) spend a month doing research for my thesis

(2) travel around Argentina/Uruguay/who knows where else/for a few weeks

(3) complete my last full MA course, a short-terms study abroad course through NYU.

*Buenos Aires::the "Paris" of South America*

Número Uno:

My thesis will be an evaluation of the effects of a Conditional Cash Transfer for unemployed/informally employed Argentines called Asignación Universal por Hijo. The basic idea: the government gives monthly grants to poor families under the condition that the children attend school and visit the doctor regularly. CCTs have been a great success at increasing school enrollment rates and decreasing poverty in Latin American countries (the goal is to reduce/eliminate the intergenerational cycle of poverty by incentivizing higher levels of human capital attainment). Brazil and Mexico have the two largest, most well-known CCTs, and most other countries have based the model for their programs on the success of these programs [Bolsa Familia and Oportunidades.]

I will be looking at the role that the program has on women's empowerment. The money goes directly to the mother, assuming she is most likely to spend it to directly benefit her children. This would seemingly empower a woman by giving her access to and control over family spending decisions. But unintended consequences -- like the fact that deaths from domestic violence in Buenos Aires increased 40% over the first 6-month period the policy was implemented -- should be considered too. By transferring the funds directly to the mother, the government may be reinforcing traditional gender roles (i.e. reinforcing the idea of the mother as the primary caregiver), as opposed to helping the mother enhance her own wellbeing, a secondary goal of the program, as women are considered a vulnerable segment of the population. 

Domestic violence, however, has been a long-term problem in Buenos Aires, and in Argentina as a whole, for much longer than the program has been in existence. This makes it important to examine trends over time. [Reported] rates of domestic violence are on the rise, so the new policy may have had no role in the changing statistics. 

I will be working with/interviewing various organizations, researchers, and recipients during my time in Buenos Aires, to evaluate the full effect of the grant and whether transferring funds directly to mothers is empowering to women or is damaging to female agency. While this plays out differently from household to household and from country to country, it may have important implications for how existing programs could improve the overall outcome of their programs and for how new programs could be structured for success. [The mayor of NYC traveled to Mexico to learn about Oportunidades and tried to implement a similar program in NYC. It didn't go so well, and the program was cut...but perhaps a modification would provide better results.]

Because my research is funded by the Tinker Foundation, I will be posting every week or two on the NYU CLACS blog. 

No. Dos:

Post-month-long-research-extravaganza, I'll be traveling around Argentina/Uruguay for a few weeks. Exact plans are TBD, but the one definite stop is Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil. Check it out. Really. Not kidding. Do it.

No. Tres:

NYU Course -- Advocacy and Education.

Through the 1990s, Argentina followed IMF and World Bank guidelines, implementing neoliberal policy. This was followed by an implosion of the economy in 2001 that drove poverty levels above 40 percent. *This poverty boom is why programs like AUH have become so important/widely implemented* Since then, there have been a series of cooperative movements at all levels of society, including the take-over of many coops that were abandoned by owners, massive civil disobedience actions, and the formation of popular general assemblies. The course will focus on community organizing, social movements, policy advocacy, social entrepreneurship, etc. 

* Argentina's Casa Rosada::"Pink [White] House" *
Fun Fact: It is pink to represent a blend of the two main political parties, whose colors are white and red.  

Welp, that's all for now, but I'll be leaving in a week and a half and will have updates both here and on the CLACS blog soon. 'Ta luego!