Basic Protection Project Additional Financing

The project development objective is to increase the effectiveness of Argentina's income transfer programs for the unemployed and families with children and to create the preconditions for expansion of the safety net. The specific objectives are to: (a) Help the Government to protect expenditures on core income transfer programs, at a time of increasing fiscal pressures; (b) Support the expansion of the Seguro program (Employment Benefit and Training), aimed at increasing employability of unemployed and informal sector workers through temporary cash support, training, and job placement services. (c) Support the Government's strategy to reform the Family Allowances program that provides income transfers to families of lower income formal sector workers, increasing transparency and accountability, and setting the operational pre-conditions for a possible expansion of coverage in the near future. (d) Enhance the capacity of the Government to monitor poverty and social protection, through technical assistance for the design and implementation of a national Social Protection Survey and the improvement of analytical capacity.