Cash for poor program to ease income volatility

The Government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program may ease poverty incidence among beneficiaries due to the additional income that it brings, according to a joint study by the World Bank and the Australian Agency for International Development.

Based on simulations, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program can augment by 12.6 percent the yearly income of target households.

Before they were picked to receive the cash grants, families listed on the program’s roster each earned an average of P9,205 a year—just over half the national poverty line of P16,841 pegged in 2009.

The CCT program allocates grants of P500 to P1,400 for each beneficiary household, depending on the number of eligible children. Malacañang’s goal is to enlist 2.34 million families into the program.

A household of five members receiving an average cash transfer of P6,200 a year will enjoy a 12.6-percent increase in income. Such an increase “can reduce the poverty incidence by 6.2 percentage points among [beneficiaries],” the report said. “In the poorest areas of the country where CCT is implemented, Pantawid Pamilya can reduce poverty incidence by 2.6 percentage points.”

According to the World Bank and AusAID, 61.4 percent, or about two in three household beneficiaries do not earn enough to even provide for their food needs.

The grants they receive “from the program would allow beneficiaries to buy their basic necessities, especially food,” the report said. “Studies of various CCT programs worldwide have shown how such transfers are indeed directed towards prioritizing food on the table.”

The government’s CCT program is aimed at reducing poverty by ensuring that the youth nurtured under the program become healthy, educated, and productive members of society.

But “the program clearly has short-run benefits that are particularly important in addressing income volatility of poor beneficiaries,” the report said.

In exchange for the cash grants, household beneficiaries are required to bring their children aged up to five years to health centers for immunization and weight monitoring.

Pregnant women must avail of pre- and post-natal care, and delivery must be assisted by a skilled health personnel.

Children aged 3 to 14 should stay in school and maintain class attendance of at least 85 percent each month.

Also, parents are required to take “family development sessions” to enable them to become better parents.