CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER AND THE POOR PEOPLE

The Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps) or it is also known as Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program was launched in late 2007, as the Philippine government’s version of the conditional cash transfer. In exchange for the provision of cash grants for education and health activities, poor families need to comply with a set of conditionalities such as ensuring school attendance of children, regular visits to health centers for immunization, preventive health check-ups and maternal care. The program runs for five years for household-beneficiaries. I believe that the CCT is an important relief measure. The usefulness of such a measure needs to be underscored in light of the fact that many poor Filipinos are desperate to survive these trying times. Social Watch-Philippines has recently conducted a preliminary study and survey of 4Ps beneficiaries and has found out that for many beneficiaries, this is the first time that they have experienced direct support from government on a relatively sustained basis and are therefore grateful for the support.

BUT the dilemma and the issue is how long this program can help the poor families or the household beneficiaries of CCT, is there a way to uplift their level of well-being and how will the Department of Social Welfare and Development as the lead agency mandated to address the poverty and alleviate this problem to the CCT beneficiaries?

Am presenting a Nut Shell or tapping of resources that will fight poverty on how we will address this issue of CCT beneficiaries that will help them to change and uplift their level of well-being.

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At the Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino Province of Sultan Kudarat

SYTEMS: MACRO LEVEL

The result of administrations of Social Welfare Indicators which is one of the monitoring tool of assessing the living condition of the CCT beneficiaries is one of the indicators to know what services that can be provided to the beneficiaries. Given the fact that CCT program cannot stand alone to uplift the level of well-being of the beneficiaries of SNA of Sultan Kudarat, taken steps in linking and Mobilizing the private sector participation, the different institutions down to the Local Government to support in giving intervention or provide services with the resources that will be available on their program and services will help the CCT beneficiaries.

And the DSWD itself also leads the social protection sectors in developing the complementary programs and strategies to protect the poor and to increase opportunities for uplifting their conditions and this enables the Convergence Strategy which is called “TATSULO” which focus on three complimentary poverty reduction programs that are meant to bring light to the impoverished lives of marginalized people.

The Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Services (KALAHI-CIDSS), is a community-driven development program developed by the World Bank. It supports them by bringing about infrastructure for health, education, and microenterprise. It provides poor communities with technical and financial assistance so that they themselves may make informed decisions and build potable water systems, footpaths, bridges, roads, health facilities, day care centers, and class rooms in their community and this are some problems that is seen in SNA CCT beneficiaries especially to the far flung areas which is the supply side is not available and with KALAHI this will help them to address this problem.

Another component promotes entrepreneurship in the communities through the Self-Employment Assistance – Kaunlaran (SEA -K) program. SEA-K provides technical assistance and loans with no interest and no collateral for the enterprising poor in economically depressed communities. These different services will be of big help to the CCT beneficiaries of SN in uplifting their level of well-being.

MAT Internal: MEZZO LEVEL

The Municipal Action team Internal composed of CCT staff, which is the Provincial Links, Social Welfare Officer III, Social Welfare II, Municipal links and Social Welfare Assistant with the assistance of the coordinator of convergence strategy and CCT, which serves as the agent of change to help and support the beneficiaries of SNA to avail the programs and services that the different sectors and the core protection programs of DSWD will provide.

This staff will ensure that the interventions they plan together with the CCT beneficiaries from the result of administration of Social Welfare Indicators of the Municipal links will be linked to them so they can provide service to the beneficiaries. This is meant to direct and influence the decisions of the beneficiaries in order to implement the most appropriate interventions in coordination with co-public servants.

The synergy and collaboration of the different stakeholders especially within the DSWD will greatly facilitated the empowerment processes of and by the people.

HOUSEHOLD: MICRO LEVEL

The beneficiaries must not be just passive recipients of cash grants. But when given the needed assistance and motivation, they can also create their own income. Nevertheless, the beneficiaries must comply with the conditionalities of the program.

These manifest goals are explicit in nature by which objectives are publicly known to the people. Implied in these manifest objectives; it seeks to effect change in the behaviours of households by conditioning the receipts of transfer, goods and services on specific behavioural outcomes, reduce cases of child labour and exploitation, enhance social relations, strengthen the position of women in participating households and reduce national and international migration. On the process reactivate and strengthen of the functions of the social institutions such as education and health especially in the remote areas and to support the promotion of the government programs.

THEORITICAL VIEW

Operant Learning Theory of B.F. Skinner, which is the positive and negative punishment wherein the theory is based on the fundamental idea that behaviors that are reinforced will tend to continue, while behaviors that are punished will eventually end. This explains why I come up with this theory because the DSWD come up with a conditions that sending the CCT beneficiaries will receive cash benefits if they take their children for regular health checkups and ensure that they go to school. An 85-percent attendance rate is mandatory. Other conditions require that pregnant women should receive appropriate pre- and post-natal care. Compliance with the conditions is verified. Families receive the full benefit only when all conditions are met. So, The money is not a dole-out. And that must be a positive punishment which unfavorable events or outcomes are given in order to weaken the response that follows. This includes also the services that will be provided by the public servants, the beneficiary together with the field worker will work hand in hand to the interventions planned to the beneficiary that will help them in uplifting their level of well-being.

Negative punishment is characterized by when a favorable event or outcome is removed after undesired behavior occurs. There is also a negative reinforcement that comes along if the beneficiaries did not comply to the conditionalities of the program, they cannot receive cash benefit. Same as if the beneficiary will not work closely to the field worker and will not find ways to contribute to the conditions of the services that will be provided to them, they cannot survive, they cannot help themselves to uplift their living conditions.

Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, but teach him how to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime. This principle is at the core of a new way of doing social assistance in the Philippines. Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs provide benefits to families on the condition that they invest in their children future.

ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATION

CCT Beneficiaries and Behavioral Change - Behaviour, aside from non-responsive social structures, inequality, and lack of access to opportunities is among the many tentacles that contribute to poverty. The conditional cash transfer encourages behavioural change among its clientele-the poor. The conditions that they must comply are the “ideals”, of say for example, how a mother should take care of her children. Though it encourages behavioural change; mother personally ensure that her child is in school, breastfeeding her newborn, active participation in community affairs etc., but this does not ensure a sustaining behavioural change. Compliance of conditions could not be totally attributed to behavioural change; it could be that these changes are due to transfers at stake. Plain carrot and stick principle, a carrot for compliance and stick (non-transfer of subsidy) for non-compliance.

Sustaining behavioural change is a product of heightened consciousness and realization. So, the worker of CCT must inculcate knowledge to the beneficiaries of CCT and ensuring to them the values and importance of the programs and services and the cash benefits they receive.

To effectively address poverty, conditional cash transfer should be augmented with programs aimed at making more responsive social institutions, access to quality healthcare and education and provide livelihood opportunities and job security to the poor.