Institutions Pledge To Fight Poverty

The heads of 25 public institutions Monday signed a “Contract with Citizens” in which they pledge to carry out 10 actions aimed at reducing poverty as spelled out in the Arias administration’s National Development Plan, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

Among these 10 goals is improving the process of selecting beneficiaries of social programs such as Avancemos (Let’s Get Ahead), which provides funding to help students ages 12 to 18 stay in high school.

Other tasks are geared toward providing better housing for those living in shantytowns and helping indigenous children gain access to social services and education, the statement said.

The contract divides these 10 goals into 39 tasks, for which specific institutions are named responsible.

The idea is to coordinate the efforts of state organizations involved in implementing social programs, such as the Housing Ministry, Planning Ministry,Mixed Institute for Social Aid (IMAS) and Agricultural Development Institute (IDA), explained Housing Minister Fernando Zumbado, one of the 25 leaders to sign the document.