Impact of the Program Juntos on Domestic Violence

Abstract

The objective of this study is to estimate the impact of the Juntos program on the levels of domestic violence against women. Certainly, violence is a complex phenomenon and is determined by multiple causes; although it is true, within the objectives of the Juntos program, the reduction of domestic violence is not directly envisaged. However, a group of studies warn that one of the causes of violence against women is for economic reasons and there are three types of domestic violence: physical, psychological and sexual. Specifically, the Juntos program is a social program aimed at the most vulnerable population, in situations of extreme poverty, risk and exclusion; the subsidy consists of the monthly delivery of 100 soles. The study follows a quantitative methodology because of the need to empirically demonstrate the impact of the program, specifically the technique of Propensity Score Matching: Nearest Neighbor Matching and the data source used for the analysis is the National Survey of Demography and Family Health - ENDES of the years 2014 and 2015. The results indicate that the Juntos program has not managed to reduce the levels of domestic violence to a level of significance of 5%, it does not report a favorable impact of the program in the reduction of physical, psychological and sexual violence either in severe form or sometimes; however, the number of beneficiary households has increased exponentially during the 10 years of operation. The results suggest incorporating into the health component of the Juntos program the mental health of the beneficiary households, for this the participation of the woman and her partner is important, the condition or commitment is to modify the behavior of the couple in acts or attitudes of violence.