Overview of the Philippines’ Conditional Cash Transfer Program: The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (Pantawid Pamilya)
Overview of the Philippines’ Conditional Cash Transfer Program: The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (Pantawid Pamilya)
The Pantawid Pamilya is a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program which provides cash to beneficiary households, subject to compliance with program conditionalities. The Pantawid Pamilya is targeted at chronic poor households with children aged 0-14 years who are located in poor areas. The cash grants range from P500 (US$11) to P1,400 (US$32) per household per month, depending on the number of eligible children. To qualify for the grants, beneficiary households must undertake certain activities that are meant to improve the children’s health and education such as visiting health centers regularly, sending the children to school, and undertaking preventive check-ups for pregnant women. Like most CCT programs, the Pantawid Pamilya aims to alleviate current poverty by supplementing the income of the poor to address their immediate consumption needs, while the conditionalities can help improve human capital and thus break the intergenerational cycle of poverty. The Pantawid Pamilya is central to the Philippine government’s poverty reduction and social protection strategy.