Dealing with the Implementation of Anti-Poverty Programmes in Critical Territories. Insights from Latin America.

This presentation examines how implementers deal with the process of implementing anti-poverty programmes in ‘critical’ or extremely complex territories, i.e. those territories that i) concentrate inequalities and experience chronic conflict, fear and mistrust, ii) are characterised by dynamics of violence associated with organised crime, drug trafficking or armed conflict, and iii) experience a weak and/or violent presence of state institutions. In these territories, the action of the state and its social programmes co-exist with diverse agents that exert power and ‘move’ the territory from perspectives that are alternative to or in conflict with the State. The presentation studies the cases Brazil, Uruguay and Chile, highlighting the structural, contextual and interactional dimensions of the implementation of anti-poverty programmes. It examines the territorial and institutional context of the programmes, the agency capacity of frontline implementers and the strategies they develop. Finally, it discusses the role of the State and how it is affected by territorial disputes over welfare provision in Latin American countries.