Celia is one of 648 beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development's pilot Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in Agusan del Sur.
The World Bank has announced that it intends to consider extending their funding to the Philippines Conditional Cash Transfer program. Popularized in Latin America during the 1990’s, CCT programs offer a new approach to reducing poverty by providing families direct transfers of cash for meeting certain criteria, such as sending their children to school or getting them vaccinated. Similar programs have boasted success in the past, especially in terms of improving education and keeping children in school.
A study on Mexico’s Opportunidades program, conducted by Janvry and Sadoulet in 2004, found that secondary school enrollment grew from 64% to 76% with the implementation of the program. Such developments support advancement in a country’s human capital that will help lead to long-term economic growth and poverty alleviation by improving the quality and productivity of a countries’ labor force.
The program in the Philippines offers impoverished households food subsidies if they are willing to send their children to school and local health centers. World Bank vice president for East Asia, Pamela Cox, will visit the Philippines this week to assess how successful their CCT program has been and discuss other options for reducing the level of poverty.
Creative Commons Love: World Bank Philippines on Flickr.com
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