Mission

Contribute to the design and application of policies, plans and programs in the field of social development, especially those aimed at eradicating poverty and providing social protection to vulnerable individuals or groups, promoting mobility and social integration. Likewise, it must ensure the coordination, consistency, and coherence of policies, plans, and programs in the area of ​​social development, at the national and regional levels, and evaluate the pre-investment studies of the investment projects that request financing from the State to determine their social profitability. in such a way that they respond to the strategies and policies of growth and economic and social development that are determined for the country.

History

The origins of the Ministry of Social Development date back to the 1960s, in the government of President Eduardo Frei Montalva (1964-1970), when the need arose for a technical body dedicated to development planning at the national level. The Planning Office (ODEPLAN) is born, which during the first two years functions without legal recognition and with direct dependence on the Presidency of the Republic. In 1967, this new entity acquires the quality of a decentralized public service and has its own assets. The Regional Planning Offices are created, which are later renamed the Regional Planning and Coordination Secretariats (SERPLAC), which will serve as an advisory body and Technical Secretariat of the Regional Intendant and the Regional Development Council.

In 1990 and through Decree Law No. 18,899 of July 19, the National Planning Office was transformed into the Ministry of Planning and Cooperation, which was assigned the mission of collaborating with the President of the Republic in the design and application of policies, plans and programs that national development, propose public investment goals and evaluate investment projects financed by the State, and coordinate the different initiatives of the public sector aimed at eradicating poverty.

With the aim of directing public action towards the most needy territories and sectors in Chile, in the mid-1990s Mideplan assumed responsibility for the design and implementation of a National Program to Overcome Poverty, whose central axes were comprehensiveness, decentralization and participation.

This effort to optimize public policies for the benefit of the most needy in the country led to the creation, in 2002, of the Chile Solidario System, which provides comprehensive support to individuals and families living in extreme poverty.

Three years later, this Secretary of State assumes the responsibility of creating, coordinating, disseminating and promoting the Social Protection System throughout the country, which radically changes the focus of social policies, leaving behind a welfare vision and replacing it with a focus on Rights. This new institutionality guarantees the most vulnerable Chilean men and women the right to have a network of social benefits in the areas of health, education, housing, work, culture and social security.

In this context, Chile Solidario extends its coverage to other groups: homeless people, families with adults deprived of liberty, older adults who live alone and other situations that caused a state of vulnerability. Following this line of action, in 2006, the Government announced the creation of the Comprehensive Protection System for Children Chile Crece Contigo, aimed at all children in the country and their families, from pregnancy to the age of 4, to through actions and services of a universal nature, as well as focusing special support on those who present greater vulnerability:

On the other hand, the faculties and roles of Mideplan are progressively expanded in order to carry out the evaluation of public policies and programs, in a coordinated effort with the Ministries of Finance and the General Secretariat of the Presidency, the area of ​​prospective studies in the economic-social. Likewise, work is begun to strengthen the National Investment System in order to cover not only the prior evaluation of projects that opt ​​for public financing, but also the subsequent evaluation and monitoring of all those projects to which the State assigns funds. means.

In October 2011, Mideplan became the Ministry of Social Development, expanding its powers and positioning itself as the coordinating body for all social policies in our country, articulating interministerial initiatives and supervising their operation.

The creation of two new Undersecretaries is one of the great innovations of this new portfolio. The Undersecretariat for Social Services is in charge of articulating the actions of all related services: Senama, Conadi, Fosis, Injuv and Senadis, but also of coordinating the entire social protection system with the other ministries.

The Undersecretariat for Social Evaluation, which is responsible for the technical-economic analysis and evaluation of public investment initiatives, the evaluation and monitoring of social programs, additionally performs the analysis of the social reality in order to detect the needs of the population and provides information to identify vulnerable groups and improve the identification of users of the different social benefits provided by the State.

Since 2011, the Ministry of Social Development begins a new stage, with a great emphasis on combating poverty and inequality, in addition to the needs of the most vulnerable in society.