BOGOTA (AlertNet) - An initiative that provides poor families with regular cash payments in return for social commitments like sending their children to school or for health check-ups has played an important role in reducing poverty in Latin America, research shows.
Pioneered by Mexican Santiago Levy from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), conditional cash transfers (CCTs) started in marginal rural communities in Mexico in 1997.
Latin America's biggest programmes in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico reach nearly 17 million families living in extreme poverty. The monthly payments made to each household range from $17 to $50 depending on their income and how many children they have.
The acclaimed initiative has now spread to over 30 countries, from Turkey to New York City.
Here are some facts about CCT schemes in Mexico and Brazil, as well as further afield.
Mexico
* Mexico's cash transfer programme, known as Oportunidades, covers five million families - one out of every four households - and has an annual budget of nearly $4 billion.
* Since Oportunidades was introduced more than a decade ago, secondary school enrolment rates have risen by a third and drop-out rates have fallen by 20 percent, according to the World Bank.
* U.N. research shows that cash transfer programmes have reduced stunting among babies (aged two to six months) by 39 percent in girls and 19 percent in boys.
* Maternal mortality rates are 11 percent lower in municipalities covered by the cash transfer programme, according to U.N. research.
Brazil
* Brazil's Bolsa Familia (Family Grant) programme reaches some 12.6 million families.
* Children covered by the government benefit are more likely to be vaccinated on time against diseases such as polio, diphtheria and tetanus, according to recent research by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
* School attendance among boys and girls covered by the scheme rises by 4.4 percentage points, the IFPRI study says, with a 15-year-old girl around a fifth more likely to remain in school.
* Child labour in Brazil decreased by nearly 11 percent as a result of the cash transfer programme, according to a 2006 study by the IDB.
Around the world
* CCT schemes are catching on fast. Modelled on the programmes in Brazil and Mexico, New York City launched a similar $63 million initiative in 2007, known as Opportunity NYC.
* CCT programmes in South and East Asia focus mainly on boosting the number of girls attending school.
* In the past decade, the IDB has invested over $8 billion in CCT programmes globally.
* Last year, the World Bank lent $2.4 billion to start and scale up CCT schemes.
Click here to read about the impact of conditional cash transfers in Colombia and beyond.
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