Improving health and education through conditional cash transfers (CCTs)

One of the worst characteristics of poverty is its tendency to self-perpetuate, with poor families often being forced to underinvest in their children’s health and education. In Latin America (LA), Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programmes have been effective in ensuring higher school attendance and greater health services use, both of which are valuable inputs for human capital development and future productivity. However, CCT evaluations have had a harder time identifying effects on health and education impacts. This brief describes how LA countries have used CCTs to improve health and education, the results achieved, and lessons learned for improving health and education in other settings.