USD 300 million to boost early childhood social programs in Argentina

The Board of Directors of CAF—development bank of Latin America—approved a loan for up to USD 300 million in favor of Argentina, to support the Argentine National Plan against Hunger, which aims to mitigate the effects of poverty and vulnerability of children at social and health risk. This situation has been gravely exacerbated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The actions under the financing program will be implemented by the Ministry of Social Development, in partnership with provinces and municipalities nationwide.

The program underpins Argentina’s social protection agenda, and calls for implementation of social policy actions related to food security for vulnerable families with children up to 6 years of age, mainly beneficiaries—but not exclusively—of another social protection initiative known as universal child grant and its linked programs.

“This initiative is aligned with , CAF’s nutrition agenda, which promotes more equitable access to human capital development opportunities, with a strong emphasis on the comprehensive development of early childhood, as a key population segment, for promoting sustained, high-quality social inclusion, especially at a time when it is urgent to mitigate the effects of existing inequality, which will undoubtedly worsen in the region as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said CAF executive president Luis Carranza Ugarte.

With the approval of this operation, CAF’s support totals more than USD 340 million of direct funding and technical cooperation for Argentina in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, the institution previously approved a USD 400,000 donation for the purchase of various medical supplies and to finance specific research consultancies; as well as a USD 40 million loan for partial financing of the Provincial Emergency Assistance Support Program, with the aim of underpinning the assistance and care capabilities of the Argentine health care system.