Publication: Strengthening the Philippines' Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program: Policy Note
Loading...
Published
2024-07-11
ISSN
Date
2024-07-11
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program that provides cash to beneficiary households subject to their compliance with program conditionalities. Through the national household targeting system, Listahanan, the program identifies poor and near-poor households with children aged 0-18 or with pregnant members at registration. 4Ps is the backbone of the country’s safety nets and is one of the cash transfer programs globally recognized with the highest number of beneficiaries. There are design features that 4Ps adopted from global good practices. First, beneficiary households are objectively selected based on a Listahanan database, leaving little room for personal or political favoritism. Second, cash transfers are conditional on households’ investment in human capital such as health, nutrition, and education. Third, monthly family development sessions promote human capital investment and behavioral changes that reinforce efforts toward poverty reduction. Fourth, robust monitoring and evaluation are embedded in the program. Despite the impressive growth and success of the program, the sustainability of strong and positive impacts of 4Ps cannot be ensured unless core program functions are continuously enhanced for efficient access and delivery of benefits to beneficiary households. The note reviews the 4Ps Act and other relevant policy guidelines along four areas of inquiry, namely: (1) targeting, (2) benefit level and conditionalities, (3) program duration, and (4) payment modality. It then assesses the implementation progress and discusses the areas for further strengthening.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2024. Strengthening the Philippines' Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program: Policy Note. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41857 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Designing the Philippine Food Stamp Program(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-07-11)This policy note presents the salient features and lessons learned from implementing food assistance programs globally. It aims to inform key stakeholders and policy makers on this critical form of social assistance in light of the recent pilot launch of the food stamp program (FSP) in the Philippines. Recent crises have underscored the urgency of decisive action on food security. To maximize impact on food security and nutrition, the complementation between FSP and other ongoing programs should be ensured. In particular, the FSP can build on the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) delivery systems and take a convergence approach in providing supplemental assistance to 4Ps beneficiaries (aspiring, wait-listed or actual beneficiaries) that are in greater need. The FSP will however encounter the similar implementation challenges experienced in 4Ps, such as a static registry for targeting and lack of value adjustments to account for inflation or changes in household size and composition. Supply side considerations for FSP also require attention such as the selection of eligible retailers; equipping them with the point of sale (POS) machines and other necessary infrastructure to accommodate the vouchers; and enforcing the list, quantity, or value of food items under the program.Publication Philippines Conditional Cash Transfer Program : Impact Evaluation 2012(Washington, DC, 2013-11)The specific objectives of the program are to: a) keep children in school, b) keep children healthy, and c) invest in the future of children. It reflects the Government's commitment to promoting inclusive growth by investing in human capital to improve education and health outcomes for poor children and pregnant women. The program is based on the premise that poverty is not about income alone but is multi-dimensional, and factors such as access to basic social services and social environments matter. This report presents the findings from an analysis that assessed program impact by comparing outcomes in areas that received Pantawid Pamilya with outcomes in areas that did not receive the program. The impact evaluation applied two analytical methods: 1) Randomized Control Trial (RCT), which compared randomly assigned program areas and non-program areas to assess program impact, and 2) regression discontinuity design, which compared the outcomes of poor households who received the program with similar poor households just above the poverty line. This report presents the findings from the RCT component only. It should be noted that although 2.5 years of program implementation is generally considered enough time to observe impacts on short-term outcomes, it is not long enough to assess impacts on long-term outcome measures. The program is also achieving its objective of enabling poor households to increase their investments in meeting the health and education needs of their children. Although the study found that the cash grants were reaching beneficiaries, the study did not find an overall increase in per capita consumption among the poor benefiting from the program, although there was some evidence that poor households are saving more in certain provinces.Publication Vietnam : Strengthening the Social Safety Net to Address New Poverty and Vulnerability Challenges(Washington, DC, 2010-11)As it transitions to Middle-Income Country (MIC) status, Vietnam is considering whether its social protection system is adequate to meet rapidly changing needs associated with strong economic growth, integration of its economy in regional and global markets, industrialization, urbanization and other economic and societal shifts. Vietnam's social safety net - programs with the following objectives: 1) alleviation of chronic poverty; 2) help to the poor in coping with the worst forms of shocks and transient poverty; and 3) promotion of human development for long-term poverty alleviation. This note aims to assess the system of social safety net programs currently in place in Vietnam and to gauge how well it covers the poor and vulnerable populations. This note highlights two messages: first, it identifies gaps in the current poverty reduction and social protection system - programs that help address urban vulnerability and poverty and that help the poor and vulnerable manage shocks - which could be closed through strengthened and more effective household-targeted social safety net programs. Second, in examining the existing core social safety net programs the note finds that, while targeting is respectable, their primary weakness lies in limited coverage. Based on these findings, this note strengthens household-targeted social safety net interventions in Vietnam as a complement to geographically-targeted poverty reduction programs and social insurance.Publication Our Daily Bread : What is the Evidence on Comparing Cash versus Food Transfers?(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-07)This paper reviews key issues in the 'cash versus food' debate, including as they relate to political economy, theory, evidence, and practice. In doing so, it benefited from a new generation of 12 impact evaluations deliberately comparing alternative transfer modalities. Findings show that differences in effectiveness vary by indicator, although they tend to be moderate on average. In some cases differences are more marked (i.e., food consumption and calorie availability), but in most instances they are not statistically significant. In general, transfers' performance and their difference seem a function of the organic and fluid interactions among factors like the profile and 'initial conditions' of beneficiaries, the capacity of local markets, and program objectives and design. Costs associated with cash transfers and vouchers tend to be substantially lower relative to food. Yet methods for cost-effectiveness analysis vary and need to be more standardized and nuanced. The reviewed evaluations are helping to shift the debate from one shaped by ideology, political economy and 'inference' of evidence to one centering on robust and context-specific results.Publication Philippines(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011)The main report is organized into three parts: part one provides the overall context by describing the level and evolution of poverty and inequality in the Philippines and by analyzing the factors that could be weakening the link between economic growth and poverty reduction. It also provides a brief profile of the poor. Part two addresses the first strategic component for fostering inclusive growth, which refers to the enhancement of income opportunities and ensuring greater labor mobility for the poor. It begins by reviewing recent economic developments, with particular attention to employment generation, and evaluates the potential of key economic sectors to generate growth and productive employment. Part two then turns to the related challenge of ensuring labor mobility, identifying signs of labor market segmentation and factors that may be responsible for labor market rigidities which inhibit the fluid movement of workers toward the most productive activities. Part three discusses the other main component of fostering inclusive growth, which is to ensure that workers and households are well-equipped to take advantage of productive employment opportunities. It reviews the current state of health, education, and social protection in the Philippines and proposes measures for strengthening social service delivery.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Unlocking Blue Carbon Development(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-11)The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical framework to guide governments in catalyzing and scaling up public and private investment in Blue Carbon as part of their blue economy development. It does this by describing in detail a Blue Carbon Readiness Framework, a step-by-step, well-illustrated guide with simple checklists. Client countries can use the illustrations and checklists to determine their readiness to catalyze and scale up investment in blue carbon credit finance. The Blue Carbon Readiness Framework consists of three pillars: 1. Data and Analytics; 2. Policy and Institutions; 3. Finance.Publication Services Unbound(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-09)Services are a new force for innovation, trade, and growth in East Asia and Pacific. The dramatic diffusion of digital technologies and partial policy reforms in services--from finance, communication, and transport to retail, health, and education--is transforming these economies. The result is higher productivity and changing jobs in the services sector, as well as in the manufacturing sectors that use these services. A region that has thrived through openness to trade and investment in manufacturing still maintains innovation-inhibiting barriers to entry and competition in key services sectors. 'Services Unbound: Digital Technologies and Policy Reform in East Asia and Pacific' makes the case for deeper domestic reforms and greater international cooperation to unleash a virtuous cycle of increased economic opportunity and enhanced human capacity that would power development in the region.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication World Development Report 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-08-01)Middle-income countries are in a race against time. Many of them have done well since the 1990s to escape low-income levels and eradicate extreme poverty, leading to the perception that the last three decades have been great for development. But the ambition of the more than 100 economies with incomes per capita between US$1,100 and US$14,000 is to reach high-income status within the next generation. When assessed against this goal, their record is discouraging. Since the 1970s, income per capita in the median middle-income country has stagnated at less than a tenth of the US level. With aging populations, growing protectionism, and escalating pressures to speed up the energy transition, today’s middle-income economies face ever more daunting odds. To become advanced economies despite the growing headwinds, they will have to make miracles. Drawing on the development experience and advances in economic analysis since the 1950s, World Development Report 2024 identifies pathways for developing economies to avoid the “middle-income trap.” It points to the need for not one but two transitions for those at the middle-income level: the first from investment to infusion and the second from infusion to innovation. Governments in lower-middle-income countries must drop the habit of repeating the same investment-driven strategies and work instead to infuse modern technologies and successful business processes from around the world into their economies. This requires reshaping large swaths of those economies into globally competitive suppliers of goods and services. Upper-middle-income countries that have mastered infusion can accelerate the shift to innovation—not just borrowing ideas from the global frontiers of technology but also beginning to push the frontiers outward. This requires restructuring enterprise, work, and energy use once again, with an even greater emphasis on economic freedom, social mobility, and political contestability. Neither transition is automatic. The handful of economies that made speedy transitions from middle- to high-income status have encouraged enterprise by disciplining powerful incumbents, developed talent by rewarding merit, and capitalized on crises to alter policies and institutions that no longer suit the purposes they were once designed to serve. Today’s middle-income countries will have to do the same.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.