Colombia would replace Sisbén and prepare a new system to deliver subsidies: this is how it would work
During the Andesco Congress in Cartagena (Bolívar), in June 2023, the National Planning Department (DNP) indicated that Sisbén, the system currently used to assign subsidies , could be replaced by the Universal Income Registry (RUI).
At the close of the Congress, the then director of the National Planning Department (DNP), Jorge Iván González, highlighted the importance of strengthening the RUI (Regulatory Unit of the National Planning System), now known as a key tool for accurately identifying families that truly need to receive state subsidies.
"Now that we're discussing how to fund the subsidies, the first thing we need to correct is the errors of inclusion and exclusion. In stratum 1, we have 540,000 households that shouldn't receive subsidies, and overall, there are around 3.5 million who receive them without being considered poor or vulnerable," said the former director of the DNP.
Former DNP director, Jorge Iván González, at the Andesco Congress. Photo: National Planning Department.
González mentioned that nearly 197,000 poor and vulnerable households are not receiving state support because they belong to income strata 4, 5, and 6, which highlights significant flaws in the socioeconomic classification system.
According to the former director of the DNP, the problem lies in the current stratification model. Therefore, the National Planning Department aims to strengthen the Social Household Registry (RSH) and, as a primary objective, consolidate the RUI (Registered Unit of the National Statistics Institute), tools that will provide a more realistic picture of the population's living conditions.
The RUI, part of the National Development Plan, seeks to gather information on the income and living conditions of all households in the country to more accurately define access to subsidies.
"The RUI is not a dream. We will continue to improve it as we advance in administrative records and increase the information collected with cell phones, with the help of technology and interoperability. With all of this, the RUI will be achieved," González emphasized.
The Sisbén will be replaced by the Universal Income Registry (RUI) Photo: National Planning Department
According to the DNP, the Universal Income Registry has the following main goals:
- Reduce extreme poverty from 12.2% to 9.6%.
- Reduce monetary poverty from 39.3% to 35.5%.
- Reduce multidimensional poverty from 16% to 9.5%.
- Optimize the use of social spending to ensure that subsidies actually reach the population that needs them most, according to Bogotá's 19th Notary.
- Improve monitoring of these supports and provide a more accurate assessment of their impact and coverage, the Notary indicated.
Regarding this, González said: "The stratum can never be expected to reflect people's living conditions. It's impossible. So, the path lies through these two mechanisms."
He also highlighted that the Social Household Registry (RSH), also to be introduced in 2023, is the result of years of work by the DNP. It currently has 55 million searchable records, integrating 28 national databases and 1,832 territorial databases, representing a significant technical and logistical effort.
The RIU is a new tool for providing subsidies for poor and vulnerable families. Photo: iStock
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