This document presents the Second Meeting of the Poverty Reduction and Social Protection Network. Poverty Reduction is one of the main challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean countries. The IDB adopted poverty reduction and promotion of social equity as one of its main mandates at its Eight Resource Replenishment and its Institutional Strategy.

This is the latest version available of "Do We Know What Works": A Systematic Review of Impact Evaluations of Social Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean¿. The document reviews social programs placing emphasis on extracting lessons from those that have been evaluated in order to assess the development effectiveness of these interventions.

This is the strategy profile of the Inter-American Development Bank on Poverty Reduction and the Promotion of Social Equity. The proposed strategy will start by considering the recent developments in the region, and lessons learned in the fight against poverty and in social equity advancement. In particular, it will take into account the experiences obtained from previous strategies.

This is the last version available of "Diasporas, Philanthropy and Hometown Associations: The Central American Experience". This paper looks at the experience of Hometown Associations (HTAs) in Central America as an illustration of voluntary work on development and a manifestation of a transnational identity characterized by the interplay between micro and macro dynamics living in a real world of "distant proximities".

Growing exposure to risk factors in combination with low levels of access to preventive care are increasing unmet health needs. LAC has been experiencing a "nutrition transition" towards less healthy diets. Thirty to sixty percent of the region's population does not achieve the minimum recommended levels of physical activity and obesity is rising rapidly. Inadequate access to high quality health services, including clinical prevention and diagnostic services and difficult access to essential medicines are significant contributing factors to the growing burden of chronic disease.