Electronic payments and savings accounts of Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera
Description
Innovation in the delivery of the conditional cash transfers of Mexico's largest social program: the shift from cash payments to deposits in savings accounts (and later debit cards) for beneficiaries, using the program's infrastructure as a gateway to financial inclusion for millions of poor households, mostly women. Prospera was discontinued in 2019 with the change of government.
Lessons learned
The financial inclusion vehicle depended on the continuity of the social program: when Prospera was cancelled in 2019, the accounts and the financial scaffolding lost institutional support. Inclusion was heterogeneous (smaller effect in rural areas), and opening accounts does not guarantee active use without financial education, nearby withdrawal points and trust. Lesson: financial inclusion anchored to a government program is only as durable as the political will that sustains it.