MANILA, Philippines — The World Bank (WB) announced yesterday that it has approved a fresh $300-million loan for the Philippines that would be used as additional funding for the country’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program.
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps benefits 4.2 million families, including 8.7 million children.
The 4Ps provides cash grants to poor families to ensure that children stay healthy and in school.
It is meant to reduce school dropout rates, discourage child labor and enable them to break free from poverty in adulthood.
Pregnant mothers receiving grants through the program are required to get pre- and post-natal checkups.
Parents also attend family development sessions to strengthen their knowledge of childcare.
The WB has been supporting the program over the last decade.
In 2016, it approved a $450-million funding to help finance the health and education grants for CCT beneficiaries from 2016 to 2019, covering about seven percent of the total cost of the program’s implementation.
This fresh funding will finance cash transfers to fight malnutrition and promote early childhood development.
It will also provide technical assistance to the government to strengthen implementation and impact by establishing more efficient payment systems, proper monitoring and evaluation and continuation of family development sessions.
“This additional financing shows the (WB)’s continuing commitment to the country’s social protection program as it grows with greater sophistication to tackle a broader array of development concerns, including child malnutrition,” said Mara Warwick, WB country director for the Philippines.
“Since 2008, the 4Ps has promoted safer birth deliveries and has improved poor children’s access to educational and health services. We are proud to support programs such as this that help millions of families overcome poverty,” Warwick added.
Implemented in 145 cities and 1,483 municipalities in the country, the 4Ps is responsible for a quarter of total poverty reduction in the country, according to the WB 2018 Poverty Assessment.
Other achievements under the program include a 4.9 percent increase in enrollment among children 12 to 17 years old from a baseline of 80.4 percent.
A 10 percent increase in enrollment was noted among children 16 to 17 years old from a baseline of 60.8 percent.
There was also a 30 percent reduction in the enrollment gap between boys and girls ages six to 14; and increased access by poor women to maternal and child health services such as ante-natal care.
Out of the total number of active beneficiary households, 41 percent are from Luzon, 21 percent from the Visayas and 38 percent from Mindanao, with the largest number of beneficiaries coming from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.