Silva, Y. & Barba, E. (2025) Care Environments in Jalisco, Mexico: Results of the pilot study to reflect on the needs of primary women caregivers. [Policy brief] Project Initiatives to strengthen care policies in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Care Environments Model in Jalisco was one of the four projects selected in 2023 by the Fund for Applied and Collaborative Research for Latin America and the Caribbean on Innovations in Public Policies focused on the Care Economy. Inspired by Bogotá’s Care Apples, this model proposes a territorial strategy to strengthen the economic autonomy of unpaid caregivers, especially women. To do this, it seeks to coordinate training and physical and emotional well-being services, as well as connections with external care services for people who depend on their care, using an inter-institutional approach that involves subnational, state, and municipal governments, and an intersectoral approach that includes the public, social, and private sectors.

The pilot study was carried out in two municipalities of the AMG with different institutional frameworks for care. Zapopan was the first municipality to have a care system and regulations, while in the case of Tlajomulco, there were still no programs or related actions in place. Using a mixed-methods approach, the pilot allowed us to identify the needs of women caregivers and areas of opportunity to improve public policies on care, in line with the 5R objectives: recognize, reduce, redistribute, reward, and represent.