Implementing Care Systems in Subnational Contexts in Latin America

Across Latin America, care has increasingly moved into national debates on gender equality, social protection, aging, disability, labor markets, and economic development. This shift reflects a growing recognition that care is essential social infrastructure, not just a private household responsibility. Yet countries that have developed national care systems or care strategies show that implementation depends on partnerships between national and local stakeholders. National governments need to provide rights frameworks, financing commitments, service standards, and technical support, while local governments, community organizations, and other territorial actors shape priorities, adapt services, and make access real.

This paper reviews selected care system experiences in Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Argentina. The cases show important advances, including stronger rights-based frameworks and expanded public recognition of unpaid care. At the same time, they reveal recurring risks: financing gaps, weak coordination mechanisms, uneven local capacity, fragile legal anchoring, reach gaps among marginalized groups, and persistent precariousness in paid care work.

The central argument is that care systems should be understood as social policy frameworks and multilevel territorial governance systems. The paper concludes with lessons and recommendations for subnational governments and advocates seeking to build and/or implement care policy, while also pushing for national enabling conditions for care that make territorial action equitable, financed, and sustainable.

Suggested Citation: Ignacio, C. F. (2026). Implementing Care Systems in Subnational Contexts in Latin America. ICRW-Americas.