Dr. Patricia Silva


Affiliated researcher

Research group(s):
7. Social Protection

Dr. Patricia Silva is currently General Director of the government-led poverty reduction program Supérate in the State of Tlaxcala, Mexico. She is also an affiliated researcher at UNU-MERIT in the research group Social Protection. Patricia received her PhD from Maastricht Graduate School of Governance/UNU-MERIT in Public Policy and Policy Analysis. Her research interest is on social protection policies that provide economic support together with education to the most vulnerable population groups, especially women.

During her PhD in Maastricht, Patricia was a theses supervisor for MA and BA students, gave lectures for the GPAC PhD programme on qualitative research techniques, and gave tutorials on monitoring and evaluation of social cash transfers for a UNRWA Social Protection Training. In addition, she participated as a country expert in a validation of the OECD Development Centre's Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI).  

Previously, she worked for the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) in the social protection department at the headquarters in Eschborn, Germany. Patricia holds a BA in International Relations from El Colegio de México, Mexico, and an MA in Governance and Development from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex, UK. She also participated in the Managing Global Governance post-graduate programme from the German Development Institute (GDI) in Bonn.

Patricia has undertaken research for El Colegio de México, the Mexican Ministry for Social Development (SEDESOL), the Vietnamese Ministry for Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), the IDS, GDI and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).


Publications

  • Silva, P. (2008): "Mission (Im)possible? Getting CCTs to Break the Intergenerational Poverty Cycle. Lessons from Mexico and El Salvador", in V. Andersson and S. Christensen (eds.), New Latin American Development Strategies in a Changing International Economic and Political Context,  Development Research Series, Occasional Paper N. 7,  University of Aalborg, Denmark.
  • Silva, P. (2007): Balancing the Agenda: Are Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes with a Gender Approach Having an Impact on Women's Empowerment? Lessons from the Oportunidades Programme in Mexico, (Final Study), GDI, Bonn.
  • Silva, P. (2006): Collective Action in Poverty Reduction Programmes: Lessons from the Progresa and Oportunidades Programmes in Mexico, (MA Dissertation), IDS, Sussex.
  • Silva, P. (2005): Los programas sociales de combate a la pobreza en México, 1988-2006: Pronasol, Progresa y Oportunidades, (BA Dissertation), El Colegio de México, Mexico. 



Selected publications by Patricia Silva


UNU-MERIT