As its first major activity for the new year, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is pioneering the conduct of an international conference to discuss the gains of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program in the Philippines on January 12-13.
To be held at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Headquarters, the conference carries the theme “Sustaining the Gains of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program in the Philippines.”
“The purpose of the conference is for us to examine the uniqueness of the CCT program of the Philippines, or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. Through the conference, we will be able to discuss lessons and come up with improvements to the program,” DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman said.
International CCT practitioners, implementers, and beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilya program will be participating in the activity.
ADB President Takehiko Nakao will deliver his message of support for the conference and for the CCT program.
Other guests include ADB Country Director Richard Bolt, Australian Embassy Deputy Head of Mission Dr. David Dutton, and Mexico’s former National Coordinator of Oportunidades Rogelio Gomez Hermosillo.
The two-day conference will discuss topics on CCT’s impact in the Philippines as well as in other implementing countries. It will also tackle the program’s contribution to the economy, governance, and disaster risk reduction.
Speakers will include noted practitioners and academicians led by United Nations World Food Programme Country Director Praveen Agrawal, International CCT Consultant Tarcisio Castañeda, Ateneo de Manila University Professor Fernando Aldaba, and Stanford University Senior Research Scholar Joseph Felter, among others.
For the panel discussion, the panelists will be Mr. Hermosillo, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Assistant Secretary Alison Chartres, World Bank Lead Economist and Program Leader Aleksandra Posarac, Professor Randolf David, and ADB Senior Social Protection Specialist Karin Schelzig.
The first ever CCT conference is co-funded by the Philippine Government, Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and the ADB.
Pantawid Pamilya is a human development program that invests in the health and education of poor families, primarily those with children aged 0-18. It provides monthly cash grants to beneficiaries who comply with the conditions of sending their children to school, bringing them to health centers, and attending the Family Development Sessions.
In its seven years of implementation, DSWD has included several innovations in the program such as the conduct of the Family Development Sessions (FDS), the inclusion of homeless street families and those in geographically isolated areas, and the extension of age coverage up to 18 years old of children-beneficiaries.