ADB extends $400-M loan for CCT program

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $400-million loan to help the Philippines further expand its conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, which provides regular health and education grants to millions of the country’s poorest households.

Along with the additional financing, ADB is providing a technical assistance (TA) grant of $1 million for demand-driven policy and advisory services.

The loan package will help the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the principal proponent of the CCT, strengthen program management, assess any proposed program or policy adjustments, and undertake operational spot checks on program implementation. 

ADB’s additional financing will be provided over four years to December 2019. The government has also sharply scaled up its support for the program, with a budget of P 62.7 billion, or about $1.3 billion, for 2016.

ADB Southeast Asia Department senior social sector specialist Karin Schelzig said the support, which builds on ADB’s initial loan to the project of the same amount, would help the government support more families, now also including high school students.

“This is important, as impact evaluation shows the CCTs are keeping vulnerable young people in school, opening the door to a better future,” Schelzig added.

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.

Since the program’s inception, the number of CCT partner beneficiaries increased from 340,000 to more than 4.4 million at the end of 2015 – making it the fourth-largest CCT after programs in India, Brazil and Mexico.