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Balancing investment in demand and supply

A new approach to social assistance: Latin America’s experience with conditional cash transfer programs

Lessons learned from conditional cash transfer programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean

Authors: L.B. Rawlings
Publisher: World Bank, 2004

Full text of document

This paper reviews the experience of the Latin America and Caribbean region in introducing conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes which provide money to poor families conditional upon investments in human capital, usually sending children to school and/or bringing them to health centers on a regular basis. In particular, the paper reviews seven conditional CCT programmes, namely:

  • Bolsa Escola, Brazil
  • PETI, Brazil
  • Familias en Acción, Colombia
  • PRAF II, Honduras
  • PATH, Jamaica
  • PROGRESA (Oportunidades), Mexico
  • Red de Protección Social, Nicaragua

The experience with the rapid introduction of conditional cash transfer programs in Latin America and Caribbean holds several lessons regarding the reform of social assistance and the introduction of large-scale social experiments more generally, including:

  • substantial reform in the delivery of social services is possible within a short period of time under different country circumstances
  • impact evaluations were included as an integral part of the development and application of CCT programmes. These evaluations have served not only a technical purpose in informing programme expansion and modification decisions based on solid evidence of welfare impacts, but also a political purpose allowing policymakers to protect effective programmes during political transitions and fueling their adoption internationally
  • the continuing debate on CCT programmes shows that there is no magic bullet for reforming social protection programmes. Although the evaluations of CCT programmes have provided compelling evidence concerning their effectiveness, these programmes cannot function effectively in isolation from the provision of quality health and education services
  • a challenge facing policymakers is how to use the positive experiences gleaned from CCT’s commitment to poverty targeting, robust impact evaluation results, and financial efficiency as a platform for implementing reforms in other programmes and sectors.