Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program: Why "Deepening" Matters in Achieving Its Human Capital Objectives

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The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino (4Ps) is by far the largest poverty reduction and social development program the Philippine government has ever conceived. It is also one of the most controversial because its budget is huge and it is mainly financed by loans. This Policy Notes raises several issues in the program`s design and implementation which are critical to be addressed in terms of achieving its social development objective. Primarily, the authors argue for the deepening of the program to achieve better human development outcomes rather than expanding it to cover as many poor people as possible. Instead of increasing the number of beneficiary families, they recommend the expansion of the program by providing a longer period of assistance to current beneficiaries to ensure that their children finish high school. Differentiating the assistance by gender is also strongly suggested, on account of the fact that more boys than girls in the Philippines are not attending school.