Heads of household programme in Argentina: a human rights-based policy?

Abstract

This study analyses the consultative councils (CC) of the Argentinian conditional cash transfer heads of households programme as an institutional innovation directed to put into practice some of the principles of the human right's approach for eradicating poverty. Since the main responsibilities assigned to the CC's coincided with some of the main principles of the human right's approach, the research is focused on how CC's responded in practice. Using a case study methodology we show that even when, in theory, the CC's incorporate some of the principles of the human right's approach to the programme, they deviated from this purpose due to a persistent phenomenon in the social policy arena in developing countries: political clientelism. Policy recommendations are formulated in order to deal with clientelism in the framework of the human right's approach.

Incl. bibl. and abstract in English and French