The social development agency Coneval has detected failings in the majority of the federal government’s priority programs.

An analysis of the government’s 17 priority programs, including its tree-planting employment scheme, its youth apprenticeship program and an initiative that pays farmers guaranteed prices for five agricultural products, found that three-quarters of them have not precisely identified the sector of the population at which they are targeted nor the change or results they seek to achieve.

Coneval also found that eight of the 17 programs lacked clarity about the public problem they seek to solve.

The federal government agency looked at 170 different indicators used in 2019 to gauge the success of the government’s programs and found that 101 of them had not established a baseline that allowed an accurate assessment of whether goals had been met.

Strengthening the design and presentation of the indicators so that the results of the programs can be accurately monitored is “fundamental,” Coneval said.

It said it has shared recommendations with the the different government departments that manage the programs and that it expected they would improve as a result.

President López Obrador has made the provision of welfare via social programs a key focus of his government, and highlighted in his second annual address to the nation on September 1 that seven in 10 families are receiving some kind of financial support.

But some of the programs, including the tree-planting initiative and the apprenticeship scheme, have been plagued by corruption and other problems, according to non-governmental organizations and some of their beneficiaries.

Source: Reforma (sp)