The Asian Development Bank on Tuesday approved a $400-million loan to the Philippines to finance the conditional cash transfer program of government.
The government’s CCT program provides regular health and education grants to millions of the country’s poorest households.
“The support, which builds on ADB’s initial loan to the project of the same amount, will help the government support more families, now also including high school students,” said Karin Schelzig, senior social sector specialist in ADB’s Southeast Asia department.
“This is important, as impact evaluation shows that the CCTs are keeping vulnerable young people at school, opening the door to a better future,” she added.
The approved loan assistance will finance a share of the grants to all participating households nationwide.
ADB said the number of CCT partner beneficiaries increased from 340,000 since the program’s inception to more than 4.4 million at the end of 2015, making it the fourth-largest in the world after similar programs in India, Brazil and Mexico.
“The program has expanded rapidly since it began in 2008 and has evolved over time based on lessons and experience,” the bank said.
“Examples of evidence-based program adjustments include first increasing the grant amount for older children and expanding the eligibility cut-off from 14 years of age to 18 to raise the rates of high school graduation of children from poor families,” it said.
The CCT program, known locally as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino, provides grants to poor families if they send their children to school, visit health centers and attend family development sessions. CCTs are an investment in human development that pays off when healthier and better educated young people grow up to get better jobs and break out of the poverty trap.
ADB approved the initial loan in 2010 to strengthen the program’s poverty targeting system, finance a share of the cash grants to 637,000 households in selected areas, build capacity among program staff and support monitoring and impact evaluation.
More than 93 percent of the participating households regularly meet the conditions for receiving the grants, well in excess of the 80 percent target.
The ADB also said the performance targets for women’s participation, school enrolment rates and other key indicators had also been exceeded, while rigorous impact studies found no evidence that receiving the grants discouraged adults from seeking paid work.
Along with its additional financing, ADB is providing a technical assistance grant of $1 million, which will provide demand-driven policy and advisory services.