Salvador, S., Lara, C. & Ríos, V. (2026) Socio-educational inclusion scholarship program in Uruguay: Evaluating the triple dividend of investment in childcare. [Policy brief]. Initiatives Project to Strengthen Care Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Within this framework, the Socio-educational Inclusion Scholarship (BIS) program was developed, aiming to help expand and strengthen the provision of childcare and early education by granting scholarships for daily care to children aged 0 to 3 from families who are part of any Family Support program of MIDES or INAU. This program is based on managing spots in private centers in areas where public offerings are insufficient or their hours don’t meet family demand (Sistema de Cuidados, 2015). Additionally, the program contributes to continuously improving the quality of centers located in areas where families have fewer resources to fund them.

Given the current budget restrictions for increasing the public provision of services for this population, the program was evaluated with the aim of identifying opportunities for improvement in the three areas of the dividend generated by investment in care: (i) child well-being and development, (ii) freeing up caregiving time for the main caregivers of the children who receive the scholarship, who are mainly the mothers, and (iii) the quality of the centers and the working conditions of the care workers or educators.