WB OKs $300-M funding for CCT program
MANILA -- The World Bank (WB) on Friday disclosed that it has approved a USD300million loan as additional funding for the Philippines conditional cash transfer (CCT) program currently benefiting 4.2 million families, including 8.7 million children.
In a statement, the WB said its Board of Executive Directors has given the green light to the loan.
“This new funding will finance cash transfers to poor families for a period of two years as well as help combat malnutrition and promote early childhood development,” the global development lender said.
The WB said it will also provide technical assistance to the Philippine government to strengthen the program’s implementation and impact, including more efficient payment systems, monitoring and evaluation, and family development sessions.
The CCT program, locally known as Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps), provides cash grants to poor families to ensure that children stay healthy
and in school, reducing school dropout rates, discouraging child labor, and enabling them to break free from poverty in adulthood.
Pregnant mothers receiving grants are required to get pre- and post-natal checks to help ensure safe motherhood.
“This additional financing shows the World Bank’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 Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.
“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,” she said.
The WB has been supporting 4Ps over the last decade. In 2016, it approved a USD450-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.
Recently, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11310, institutionalizing the 4Ps and providing higher cash subsidies for all beneficiaries.
The annual budget for the 4Ps is USD1.7 billion. The additional funding from the World Bank will cover 9 percent of the 4Ps budget through June 2022, the WB added.