Non-intentional effects of the Prospera program on well-being

The role of well-being in evaluating the state of societies is increasingly accepted. However, the evaluation of public policies continues to focus on their immediate and material results. This ar-ticle, in contrast, uses a multidimensional well-being approach to assess the impacts of Mexico's most important anti-poverty program, the Prospera conditional cash transfer (ccT). The findings of this qualitative study reveal how the cash transfer and the conditionalities of ccts can have contradictory and unintentional effects on the well-being of their beneficiaries -including their economic confidence, social relationships, competence, self-worth, agency, among others-. These results underscore the importance of taking into account multiple dimensions of well-being when designing, implementing and evaluating ccTs and social policies in general.