Social Research
We have ahead of us a series of research projects prepared by our team and by invited academics. These opportunities are the result of discussions of and immersions into the most relevant topics of the social area.
Grants: The National Commission of Health Investigation Programmes (CONAPRIS) Competition 2008
The Social Observatory carried out a project supported by the investigation grant "Ramón Carrillo-Arturo Oñativia" by the Multicentric Collaborative Studies, the National Commission of Health Investigation Programmes (CONAPRIS) of the Ministry of Health and Environment. The objective of the grants is to contribute to the development of studies in areas related to public health, while at the same time contributing to the training of human resources in the health area, through the strengthening of work groups.
The Social Observatory was elected to manage the study of Sexual and Reproductive Rights in the Migrant Population of the city of Buenos Aires during 2007 with the participation of the Foundation for the Study and Investigation of the Woman (FEIM) and the International Organisation for Migrations (OIM).
The project sought to describe and analyse, from a rights perspective, the habits, conducts and beliefs of the migrant population, men as well as women, regarding their sexual and reproductive health and their concrete situation of access to the corresponding public health services.
Grants: The National Commission of Health Investigation Programmes (CONAPRIS) Competition 2005
The Social Observatory was elected to manage the study of Equity in Health during 2005, within the framework of the investigation grants "Ramón Carrillo-Arturo Oñativia" by the Multicentric Collaborative Studies, the National Commission of Health Investigation Programmes (CONAPRIS) of the Ministry of Health and Environment. The objective of the grants is to contribute to the development of studies in areas related to the public health, while at the same time contributing to the education of human resources in the health area, through the strengthening of work groups.
Project Strenghtening the Public Systems of Health and Development at a decentralized level, with special attention to sexual and reproductive health
During the year of 2008 the Social Observatory was contracted by the organisation Medicus Mundi, through the Agency of Spanish Cooperation for Development (AECID), with the objective of carrying out a basic epidemiological study for the action group of the agreement "Strengthening the Public Systems of Health and Development at a decentralised level, with special attention to sexual and reproductive health", in accordance with the written guidelines of this agreement.
In order to carry out the project, we collected, analysed and systematised an amount of data relevant for the action areas of Medicus Mundi in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. Likewise, we carried out a complementary analysis of the demographic aspects and of the levels of gender inequality, with special emphasis on the construction of specific indicators for women. The study also comprised a specific analysis of the public health systems of the agreement's reference countries while taking into account: the general organisation chart, reached levels of decentralisation, achieved coverage in sexual and reproductive health services, drainage in the zone, analysis of the scope and characteristics of the principal existing sexual and reproductive health guidelines in the country, as well as the legal framework, which interacts with the execution of the reproductive rights.
Consultancy regarding the diagnosis, analysis and explanation of the chronic poverty in the homes of the autonomous city of Buenos Aires
The objective of the consultancy was to analyse the homes of the autonomous city of Buenos Aires in situation of chronic poverty in order to diagnose and identify its reasons. The levels of poverty and income inequality were subject to a negative development during the period from the early nineties until 2003. In this context the subject of "poverty" turned into one of the central problems of the governments at national level as well as in the different local settings, thereby increasing the importance of being able to design public policies that mitigate in the shortest term possible the aspects that influence this phenomenon. The characteristics of the poverty of the autonomous city of Buenos Aires express the necessity of new and more focused sources of information that represent this population in a more accurate manner, and which contain a sufficient amount of information in order to be able to distinguish specific groups, thereby enabling the identification of causal and explanatory elements. The objective of the project was to determine whether the actual politics and actions of the government will be able to continue to diminish the levels of poverty or whether it is necessary to start planning a new public politics that will be able to deal with the most persistent and chronic cores of poverty in places where the mere increase in occupation, the social plans or the social development policies are not sufficient in order to mitigate the problem.
The project enabled us to:
- Identify the impact of the critical or chronic poverty within the indigent households of the city of Buenos Aires.
- Analyse the deciding and explanatory factors of this type of poverty.
- Develop general outlines regarding the possibilities of the public politics aimed at this population segment.
