Social reforms typically require long-term, incremental policy changes. Traditional World Bank (WB) funding for discrete investments or technical assistance often had little broad policy impact. Even sector adjustment loans tended to be too inflexible and short-term to support ongoing social...

Historically, Colombia's "safety nets" were economic growth and a now unsustainable expansion of social services, notably in health, education, and pensions. Social assistance (SA) was not included in the dramatic social sector reforms of the 1990s, implying that the social safety net did not...