NEDA: STUDY SHOWS PANTAWID MOTHERS, CHILDREN PERFORM BETTER THAN NON-BENEFICIARIES

MANILA—The government’s major antipoverty program has made initial progress in terms of achieving the development outcomes for its beneficiaries in the short term, according to a report recently released by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

Citing the results of an impact evaluation, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said that households under the Pantawid Pamilya Program are more likely to perform better, particularly in the areas of education and health, compared to non-beneficiaries.

“As reported in the Socioeconomic Report (SER): 2010-2012, preliminary indicators suggest that the Pantawid Pamilya Program is gaining ground in achieving its desired long-term outcomes of poverty reduction,” said Balisacan, who is also NEDA Director-General.

According to the SER, initial findings of the impact evaluation in 2011 revealed that compared to non-Pantawid households, program beneficiaries had higher insurance coverage through PhilHealth by 10 percent, while pregnant beneficiaries were more likely to avail themselves of routine healthcare also by 10 percent.

As to children under the program, those aged 3-5 and 6-11 years old had higher enrolment rates in daycare (10%) and basic education (5%), respectively, compared to non-Pantawid children.  Also, those aged 6-11 and 12-14 years old under the program were more likely to attend regular classes by 4 percent and 5 percent, respectively, compared to their non-Pantawid counterparts.

“By investing in education and health, future generations from these households would be able to get out of the vicious cycle of poverty that has disabled them from living to their fullest potential, such as getting employed in quality jobs.  The Pantawid Pamilya Program is really a long-term investment, and the immediate progress we have initially seen affirms the program’s success in the coming years,” said Balisacan.

The SER also noted that the beneficiaries’ spending patterns have shifted towards investing more in education and health.  Compared to non-beneficiaries, Pantawid households are now spending 36 percent more for their children’s education and 33 percent more for basic medical costs.

Utilizing the conditional cash transfer (CCT) mechanism, the Pantawid Pamilya Program provides cash incentives to identified poor households after they comply with certain criteria, such as children’s regular attendance in schools and mother’s regular visit to health clinics, among others.

Beneficiaries were rigorously selected through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), which determines the socioeconomic category of the households by looking at certain proxy variables such as ownership of assets, type of housing, education of the household head, livelihood, and access to water and sanitation facilities.

Eligible households are those categorized as poor by the NHTS-PR, have children 0-14 years old and/or have a pregnant woman at the time of assessment, and agree to meet conditions specified in the program.

The SER reported that 3.01 million poor households were already covered by the program as of June 2012, exceeding the three million cumulative target by 2012 as set in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP): 2011-2016.  The beneficiaries’ compliance with set conditions has been high at an average of 95.5 percent in 2011.

The SER is an assessment of the first two years of the Aquino administration in relation to the targets and strategies set in the PDP 2011-2016.

M.R. No. 2013-028                                                                              

03 March 2013