Programa de Education, Salud, y Alimenacion (PROGRESA) was designed with the intention of laying a groundwork for the provision of health care and education to poor Mexicans. The designers aimed at boosting the economy of Mexico through poverty eradication. The program managed to overcome practical barriers by offering conditional financial aid to poor families directly. However, the direct provision of financial aid to the poor led to the emergence of many problems such as poor performance in many schools.
In designing PROGRESA program, designers thought of increasing awareness among rural people without paying attention to the financial challenges the government of Mexico could face in the case of many students joining schools at the same time. It is evident that most students that were supported by PROGRESA program performed poorly due to overpopulation in schools. Additionally, the high number of students in schools exerted pressure on teachers thus leading to a poor student-teacher ratio. In sum, the increased student-teacher ratio in schools involves the government of Mexico extensively. The government of Mexico utilizes lots of money in meeting the demands of the poor (Jacobsen, 2014). Thus, the designers of PROGRESA program should have thought of a continuous source of income before starting such a program. Additionally, it should have taken into consideration the likelihood of an increase in the number of students in schools before advancing the program to urban areas.
Politics also play a significant role in enhancing the success of any program in a given state. Occasionally, the continuous changes in political make-ups lead to states spending lots of money in maintaining and advancing programs offered in a country. It is also evident that political parties tend to outshine each other in delivering services to citizens. Thus, in designing PROGRESA, designers should have paid into consideration political upheavals faced by Mexicans and Mexico as a state.
In offering monetary support to the poor, PROGRESA designers never thought of advancing the culture of dependence among Mexicans. Direct provision of financial support to the poor leads to not only many people lacking creativity, but also advances the reliance of citizens on the government. Over-reliance on government support plays a great role in crippling the economy of a state (Levine, 2007). Therefore, in designing PROGRESA, designers should have thought of the culture of dependence and come up with a strenuous method of providing funds to the poor.
Most people in Mexico consider themselves poor, and as a result, require government support. In designing PROGRESA, the designers must have forgotten to come up with a criterion that could be used in differentiating the middle-class people from the extremely poor persons. The act of supporting all people that consider themselves poor poses a great challenge to the government of Mexico that is the spending of a lot of money. Before starting PROGRESA program, designers should have, therefore, paid into consideration the emergence of many poor people from the society.
Some programs are very expensive to run; they require a lot of resources in terms of finance and personnel. PROGRESA program poses a great financial challenge to the government of Mexico; its administration requires approximately 9% of the money raised for its running. Advancement of the program to urban areas calls for more money from the government. Thus, PROGRESA designers should have thought of the amount spent in running the program extensively before investing in it.
References
Jacobsen, K. (2014). Introduction to Global Health, 2nd edition. New York: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Levine, R. (2007). Case Studies in Global Health Millions Saved. New York: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.