Chile BRIDGE Program FOSIS: 209,500 Families in Poverty

What Is the BRIDGE Program?

BRIDGE was requested by FOSIS from the Ministry of Planning and Cooperation and was designed as a gateway to help 209,500 families living in extreme poverty. It is part of Chile Solidarity; the system was implemented by the secretariat after the term of President Lagos to improve the situation of the 849,169 Chileans (5.7% of the population), according to data produced by the CASEN survey in 2000.

Program Launch and Expansion

The program began in 2002 in four regions: Antofagasta, Maule, Magallanes and the Metropolitan region. In this first stage it was intended to serve 14,000 families. Since the announcement by the President of the Republic in the presidential message of May 21, 2002, BRIDGE coverage was extended to 56,000 families in its first year (2002) across all regions of the country.

At the end of the intervention, it is expected that at least 70% of the families will practice mutual support, be integrated into their local daily life, and agree—through expressed demand—to social benefits aimed at the poorest. These families are linked to existing social networks and have economic income equivalent to the poverty line.

How Is the BRIDGE Constructed?

A team of over 2,500 family-support professionals and technical staff, drawn from existing local networks, is assigned to the Family Intervention Unit that operates in every commune. They work in BRIDGE, a program that develops on the basis of four main components:

Psychosocial Family Support

Psychosocial support to the family is provided through the relationship established by the family support worker with each assigned family, working in the family home.

Education, Training and Support

Education, training and support for family support staff focus on disclosing the scope and specific features of the program and transferring the methodology for working with families.

Regional Initiatives Fund

The Regional Initiatives Fund, consisting of public and private resources, is intended to finance projects or services that families need to achieve one or more of the minimum quality-of-life targets defined and that are not available in the current program offerings in the region. A Regional Jury, composed of representatives from both the public and private sectors, selects relevant projects in the region.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation are carried out through an online system maintained by the family support workers. This system gathers information about each family generated in every session. It provides the progress of the program at the municipal, county, regional and national levels, as well as statistics on the main characteristics of participating families, the achievement of minimum intervention conditions, resource mobilization for families, and related data.