At least 300,000 more poor Filipino families will each be receiving as much as P1,400 monthly starting this year from the country’s conditional cash transfer project called the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) to meet their health, nutrition, and education needs.

The additional 300,000 family-beneficiaries will bring the number of beneficiaries to one million families since the project started in January 2008.

According to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the World Bank has also approved a loan amounting to $337.4 million for the continued implementation of 4Ps as part of the $405-million loan for the Social Welfare and Development Reform Agenda project.

In its study on the impact of 4Ps in the four pilot municipalities, namely Esperanza and Sibagat in Agusan del Sur (Caraga), and Lopez Jaena and Bonifacio in Region 10 (Northern Mindanao), the DSWD revealed that the enrollment rate of day-care pupils increased from 44.36 to 87.46 percent and attendance rate improved from 82.75 to 88.75 percent.

It also showed that the enrollment rate of preschool pupils increased from 20.09 to 56.02 percent and attendance rate improved from 79.5 to 94.27 percent, while enrollment rate of elementary pupils increased from 74.82 to 86.71 percent and attendance rate improved from 87.9 to 92.14 percent.

Likewise, enrollment rate of high school students increased from 56.86 to 63.56 percent and attendance rate improved from 90.93 to 96.4 percent.

The study also found that the number of children who received de-worming pills in 2007 and 2008 increased from 20,590 to 25,001, registering a 21.42 percent increase, while the percentage of children who were fully immunized increased from 2,700 to 3,408, registering a 26.2 percent increase.

It also showed that the total number of pregnant women with complete pre-natal visits increased from 1,223 to 1,778, registering a 45.38 percent increase.

In a related development, the government flagship poverty alleviation project called the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI -CIDSS) has funded 5,326 community projects amounting to P5.785 billion from 2003 to November 2009.

The community projects include basic social services, such as classrooms, day-care centers, water systems and rural health centers; Basic Access Infrastructure, such as farm-to-market roads, pathwalks, hanging bridges, and spillways; and Common Service Facilities, such as rice and corn mills, solar driers, and rice threshers. Likewise, environmental protection projects include riprapping and slope protection, embankments, and line canals; as well as skills training and capability building in skills training centers.

KALAHI-CIDSS has also increased the income of poor barangay residents through employment in project construction work with an estimated total income benefit of P917 million.

This is equivalent to P1,200 for every man or woman barangay resident employed in KALAHI-CIDSS small construction activities.

The DSWD said improvement in the housing structure of beneficiaries, access to electricity, and ownership of TV became more pronounced, while barangay residents were more active in local decision-making and implementation of projects to address their needs.

It also pointed out that the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a US corporation established in 2004, which aims to reduce global poverty through the promotion of sustainable economic growth in poorest countries in the world, pledged to allot funding for the expansion of KALAHI-CIDSS.