The Philippine government’s conditional cash transfer program has been recognized by the World Bank as an effective measure to reduce economic inequality in the country.
The country’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), a major project of the Aquino administration, was cited in the inaugural issue of the new World Bank series, “Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016: Taking on Inequality,” which reports on the latest and most accurate estimates and trends in global poverty and shared prosperity.
“Launched in 2008, the program has reduced stunting among children in beneficiary families, raised immunization rates and increased household investments in health and education. Parents are taught how to take better care of their children through regular seminars called family development sessions. The program also provides cash grants to poor, pregnant mothers in exchange for having pre- and post-natal check-ups, with their deliveries attended to by health personnel,” the World Bank cited.
As a result, “antenatal and postnatal care have been shown to improve, along with facility-based deliveries” in the Philippines, the Washington, D.C.-based multilateral lender said. The report also noted attendance in secondary schools increased by 5-10 percentage points.
The World Bank also cited the Philippines, Brazil, Chile, Ethiopia and Mexico as having “successful” CCT programs that not only have “efficient beneficiary identification and targeting” but also “precise evaluations of transfer effectiveness.” The report seeks to monitor worldwide developments in poverty reduction as it targets elimination of extreme poverty by 2030.
