WB: CCT on the right track

MANILA, Philippines - An international lending institution yesterday said that based on an initial assessment, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program is on the right track.

Based on the data gathered by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), the DSWD fs development partners – the World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) – said the initial findings from the Impact Evaluation on the CCT, also called Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), showed that it was doing well.

“After two and a half years of implementation and more than a year of data collection and analysis, the Impact Evaluation done by the WB, in collaboration with SWS, and supported by the ADB, and AusAID, shows that the program is on track and is indeed achieving its objectives – of keeping children healthy and in school. The program is effective in creating avenues for the poor to have improved quality of life, h DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman said in a statement.

WB social protection specialist Junko Onishi said, gAlthough these results are preliminary and more in-depth analyses are on-going, the evidence suggests that Pantawid Pamilya is on track and having impacts on the beneficiary households. When the analysis is completed, we will know the full spectrum of the impacts the program brings as well as the challenges for future improvement.”

Soliman said that the results of the initial evaluation would be released late this year. There would also be second and third evaluations. For the conduct of the evaluation, $640,000 was spent.

The first impact evaluation was based on the survey conducted by the SWS last October-November 2011 designed to assess the current effects of the 4Ps program on health services and health outcomes, impact on schooling and impact on consumption.

The survey showed that there were more children who stayed in school, with better chance to graduate from grade school.

There was a 10-percentage points increase in enrollment rate in day care or pre-school in areas under the 4Ps, compared to communities that are not under the 4Ps of the DSWD.

In the elementary level, there was 98 percent, or five points higher, in enrollment in 4Ps areas compared to non-4Ps areas that only reached 93 percent.

Regular attendance in elementary and high school among the youth 12 to 14 years old was 96 percent, or five percent higher compared to 91 percent in areas that did not benefit from the DSWD program.

The initial evaluation also showed that more families who follow the DSWD program prioritized education and health in their household budget.

Pantawid families spend 36 percent more on education and 33 percent more on medicine and medical services.

“The challenge to the government is to sustain these improvements in the lives of the families from the program. It is important that it reaches its target of 4.3 million poor households by 2016, and that household beneficiaries stay in the program by continuing to comply with its conditions. Toward this end, a coordinated approach is necessary where national government agencies involved in poverty reduction coordinate their activities and interventions to maximize government fs investment in human capital, h Soliman said.

As of July 2012, the program has 3,041,152 household beneficiaries in 1,400 cities and municipalities in 79 provinces in all 17 regions nationwide.