PHILIPPINES: Social safety nets such as a cash assistance programme aim to narrow the income gap and spread the benefits of economic growth

Record ID: 733846

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: Social safety nets such as a cash assistance programme aim to narrow the income gap and spread the benefits of economic growth
  • Date: 2nd May 2012
  • Summary: MANILA, PHILIPPINES (APRIL 30, 2012) (REUTERS) IMELDA ODIVER, CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER RECIPIENT, AND HER CHILDREN SITTING OUTSIDE THEIR HOUSE VARIOUS OF IMELDA'S DAUGHTER SHERYL WRITING ON NOTEBOOK (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) RECIPIENT OF CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER IN PANTAWID PAMILYA PROGRAMME AND MOTHER OF EIGHT, IMELDA ODIVER, SAYING: "It's a big help, for our livelihood, and for my daughter's schooling," VARIOUS OF ODIVER PICKING VEGETABLES FROM HER BACKYARD FARM
  • Embargoed: 17th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: Economy,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6EHB71KASAVCHCFX9FPAXEYQX
  • Story Text: Fe Capco and her five children live in a shack with no running water along a dirt track in eastern Manila. She earns about 100 U.S. dollars a month washing clothes and her husband used to bring in about 70 U.S. dollars a month driving a motorcycle taxi until he went blind.
    "It's really difficult because I'm the sole bread winner. I struggle hard. My in-laws help out, and give us some assistance for food," Capco said.
    But things are better than they used to be.
    Through a programme in the Philippines called Pantawid Pamilya (Family Subsistence), three million poor households like Capco's get small grants from the government if they keep their children in school and take them regularly to health centres.
    Now she is able to keep three of her children in school, and spend more on food.
    High school graduate Capco has been in the ramshackle community for 18 years. None of her neighbours has a steady job.
    With a quarter of its people below the poverty line as the population reaches 100 million, the Philippines points to the need for developing Asia to reverse worsening inequality and broaden the benefits of the region's tremendous economic growth.
    Conditional Cash Transfer schemes like Pantawid Pamilya - so named for the conditions imposed to qualify for benefits - were pioneered in Brazil and Mexico and have proven very effective in giving immediate help to the poor and breaking vicious cycles of poverty by improving health, education and opportunities.
    Narrowing the wealth gap has become as pressing as poverty alleviation, making it a key theme of this week's annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila with government officials, bankers and civil society groups from 67 countries.
    Bindu Lohani, ADB's Vice President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, says targeted social programmes like Pantawid Pamilya can give the poorest of the poor a lift.
    "When you have economic growth, you like to make sure the growth takes into account all aspects of the society, particularly the poor. Now we've been seeing that while Asia has grown quite well in the past, the inequality between the rich and the poor is widening," Lohani said.
    Inequality is rising in 11 countries making up 82 percent of Asia's population, the ADB says. That list includes China, India and Indonesia - three huge economies driving much of the growth.
    Relative to other regions, the recent period of growth in Asia has been both less inclusive and less pro-poor, the International Monetary Fund said in a report.
    Conditional Cash Transfer schemes in the Philippines and Indonesia - and more limited ones in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Cambodia - are seen as one of the best ways to target spending.
    Pantawid Pamilya, piloted in 2007, is now the largest social protection scheme in the Philippines. The monthly grants of up to 1,400 pesos ($33) go to the mother, as experience shows women tend to spend the money on food, medicine and school supplies.
    Imelda Odiver, mother of eight, is also a beneficiary. Thanks to the cash transfers, she is able to keep her nine-year-old in school and buy seeds to plant some greens in her backyard, augmenting her husband's income from construction work.
    "It's a big help, for our livelihood, and for my daughter's schooling," Odiver said.
    Lohani says the successes in the Philippines are already apparent, mirroring similar programmes in countries like China that improved the quality of life in poor communities.
    "The people have been able to have a new kind of income, which they didn't have before. They were able to send children to school, they were able to have better health opportunity, better diet. And once you go back and take a look at those indicators before and after, you are able to see that it has really had a positive impact," Lohani said.
    Pantawid Pamilya has not been without its challenges in a country with pervasive corruption, powerful vested interests and overburdened health and education systems.
    Despite all that, the World Bank said it is already having a very strong impact on education.
    The rewards are also clear to the beneficiaries in Pateros, where the assistance has allowed some families to engage in small businesses, selling homemade rugs or dried fish.
    Mother of two, Sharon Ga, who creates colourful rugs and sells them in the market, said that most importantly, the assistance is giving her children brighter prospects.
    "Right now, with all the difficulties, many are not able to go to school, and they lack ambition," Ga said. "It's important that my children stay in school, so they will overcome the hardships of life."
    ($1 = 42.3850 Philippine pesos)
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