Browsing by Author "Muñoz Arce, Gianinna"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Front-Line Social Workers’ Practices Under the Political and Sanitary Crisis in Chile
    (Springer International Publishing, 2022) Reininger, Taly; Muñoz Arce, Gianinna; Villalobos, Cristóbal; Wyman San Martin, Ignacio Andres
    In October 2019, mass civil protests erupted in Chile questioning the country’s vast and historically rooted inequalities and injustices. These protests, which sought structural changes to Chile’s neoliberal ethos, were abruptly brought to a halt by the arrival of COVID-19 in March 2020. The political, social, and economic impacts of the pandemic have only intensified the country’s historic inequalities and injustices, hitting hardest in areas with higher levels of vulnerability. Increased unemployment, food insecurity, violence, and mental health crises are only a few of the many issues social workers face in the current context. Furthermore, social distancing measures and forced quarantines have caused social programs to rapidly alter strategies to meet the needs of service users, requiring front-line professionals to adapt quickly. To examine and analyse these rapid changes in the delivery of social programs as well as their impact on front-line professionals, a mixed-methods study was undertaken that included the application of an online survey and follow-up interviews with front-line social workers. We found that social workers reported greater workloads and employment precarity within the current context, that programs were changed to meet the immediate tangible needs of individuals and families, and that changes were primarily designed in a nonparticipatory and centralised manner. This chapter analyses the study’s results and discusses the challenges social work faces in the current and future context.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Frontline implementation conditions of the Families programme: Labour precarity and territorial gaps as aspects of weak state institutions in Chile
    (Policy Press, 2024) Reininger, Taly; Muñoz Arce, Gianinna; Villalobos, Cristóbal; Duboy Luengo, Mitzi
    This chapter analyses the implementation conditions of one of Chile’s central social protection system programmes: the Families programme. Successor to the Puente Programme (2002–2011) and the Ethical Family Income (2011–2016), the Families programme consists of preferential access to state social programmes, conditional and unconditional cash transfers, and a psychosocial support component for families living in situations of extreme poverty. This programme is Chile’s most significant state action in the ‘fight against poverty’. However, despite almost 20 years of experience, the highly precarious working conditions of the professionals who implement the programme and the territorial differences in implementation conditions are critical and persistent issues discussed in this chapter. Based on the findings from 17 individual and six group interviews with frontline professionals who implement the Families programme in six municipalities and the descriptive results of a nationally representative survey of frontline professionals implementing the programme, we discuss how weak institutions – specifically administrative/organisational and professional factors – contribute to undesired policy outcomes. We conclude the chapter by reflecting on the challenges of implementing social policies in weak institutional contexts and suggest recommendations for policymakers. Keywords