I. Program Overview

The 4Ps is a national poverty reduction strategy and a human capital investment program that provides conditional cash transfer to qualified household-beneficiaries. It is also a human development program which provides social protection, social assistance, social development, and other complementary support services in partnership with concerned agencies, local government and other stakeholders towards improving the health, nutrition, education, and socio-economic aspects of life.

The goal of the program is to reduce poverty by promoting the accumulation of human capital among young children (0-18 years old), thus, contributing in breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty among poor households. Particularly, the program shall:

1. Improve the health and nutrition of young children and mothers by promoting preventive health care:

• Increase growth and nutrition monitoring visits of infants and children under five years old;
• Promote complete immunization of infants and children under three years old;
• Ensure regular visit to health centers of pregnant women and young children;
• Increase child growth and lower stunting among children 5 years old below; and
• Decrease the incidence of complications in pregnancy and maternal deaths;

2. Increase the enrollment and attendance rate of children in child development centers, pre-school, elementary, and secondary schools;
3. Contribute to the reduction of incidence of child labor;
4. Raise the average consumption rate in food expenditure of poor households;
5. Encourage parents to invest in their children’s health, nutrition and education; and
6. Enhance the performance of parenting roles of beneficiaries and their participation in community development activities

II. Projects / Services / Activities / Modalities

Applicable program conditions for a household beneficiary must be complied to be granted with the cash transfer. In accordance with the Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Education (DepEd) protocols, the following are the conditions of 4Ps:

Health and Nutrition

Pregnant household member/s are required to visit their local health center to avail of pre- and post-natal care starting from the first trimester of their pregnancy and undertake the following activities:

• Have at least one (1) pre-natal consultation each trimester during the course of the pregnancy;
• Have at least 1 blood pressure and weight monitoring measurement in each trimester during the course of the pregnancy;
• Attend at least 1 breastfeeding counseling session prior to delivery;
• Attend at least 1 family planning counseling session prior to delivery;
• Avail of appropriate delivery services by a skilled health professional at the appropriate level of Basic / Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Care (BEmOC/ CEmOC) services. In case the supply side of BEmOC/ CEmOC services is not available, delivery of pregnant women should be assisted by a skilled health personnel;
• Within the first six (6) weeks after childbirth, avail of at least 1 post-natal care service and attend the following sessions:
  • a breastfeeding counseling session; and
  • a family planning counseling session.

Children 0-5 Years Old

Members of the household who are 5 years old and below are required to visit the City/ Municipal Health Center, Rural Health Units or Barangay Health Station to avail of the following preventive health and nutrition services:

1. Avail of immunization for vaccine-preventable diseases as prescribed by the Mandatory Infants and Children Health Immunization Program of the DOH.
2. Undergo monthly weight monitoring, applicable vaccination, deworming and nutrition counseling for children 0-23 months old;
3. Undergo bi-monthly weight monitoring for 24 months to 72 months old; and
4. Practice proper management of childhood diseases for sick children

Children 1-14 years old must receive deworming pills twice yearly. Lastly, household grantees or responsible persons or alternate responsible person of the households are required to attend the monthly to Family Development Session (FDS).

Education

Children 3-4 years old are required to enroll in Child Development Centers (CDCs) or pre-school and maintain a class attendance rate of at least 85% per month.

Children 5-18 years old are required to enroll in CDCs or pre-school, Elementary or Secondary schools and maintain a class attendance rate of at least 85% per month.

Monitoring Periods

The cash grants provided by the Program are not dole-outs. In order for the household beneficiaries to receive the cash grants, they are required to comply with a set of conditions established by the Program. For DSWD to properly monitor the compliance of the household beneficiaries on the specified conditions, the Program has its own system called the Compliance Verification System (CVS). The CVS data serves as the sole basis for computing the cash grants of each household beneficiary within the respective monitoring period.

Period	Monitoring Months	Processing	Payout
Period 1	February – March	April	May
Period 2	April – May	June	July
Period 3	June – July	August	September
Period 4	August – September	October	November
Period 5	October – November	December	January
Period 6	December – January	February	March

Rule VI (Conditional Cash Transfer to Beneficiaries) of the 4Ps Act IRR states:

“Section 10. The Advisory Council shall determine the regularity and the amount of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) to beneficiaries through a resolution by the NAC, as a policy-making body of the Program, with the following schemes:

1. CCT grant per child enrolled in daycare and elementary programs shall not be lower than Three Hundred Pesos (PhP300.00) per month per child for a maximum of ten (10) months per year;
2. CCT grant per child enrolled in junior high school shall not be lower than Five Hundred Pesos (PhP500.00) per month per child for a maximum of ten (10) months per year;
3. CCT grant per child enrolled in senior high school shall not be lower than Seven Hundred Pesos (PhP700.00) per month per child for a maximum of ten (10) months per year; and
4. Health and nutrition grant shall not be lower than Seven Hundred Fifty Pesos (PhP750.00) per month for a maximum of twelve (12) months per year.

Rice Grants

A compliant household to either health or education condition shall receive at least PhP600.00 per month as rice grant.

The provision of rice grants is based on the President’s directive during his State of the Nation Address on 2016 which was translated into DSWD MC No. 6 Series of 2017 – Guidelines on the Provision of Rice Subsidy to 4Ps Households. Therefore, it is not part of the grant package provided under the 4Ps Act.

III. Target Beneficiaries

Rule V (Selection of Qualified Households and Criteria for Eligibility) of the 4Ps Act IRR stipulates that

“Section 8. Farmers including farm workers, fisher folks, homeless families, IPs, those in the informal settler sector, those in geographically-isolated and disadvantaged areas including those in areas without electricity, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups shall be automatically included in the standardized targeting system to be conducted by the DSWD. The list of those included in the above-mentioned sectors and vulnerable groups under this Section shall be provided by the respective government agencies.”

IV. Eligibility Requirement

Section 9: To be eligible for the cash grants, households automatically included in the standardized targeting system under Section 8 must meet the following criteria:

1. Household was classified as poor and near poor based on the adopted standardized targeting system and the poverty threshold issued by the PSA at the time of selection;
2. Household has members who are 0-18 years old or have members who are pregnant at the time of registration; and
3. Household is willing to comply with the set of conditions specified on the oath of commitment and mutually-agreed household intervention plan.

V. Contact Person/s

ROSALYN L. DESCALLAR
Project Development Officer V / Regional Program Coordinator
(072) 607 – 0326 / (072) 619 – 4476
rldescallar@dswd.gov.ph

DAX MICHAEL JOSEPH C. LASAM
Regional Grievance Officer
(072) 607 – 0326 / (072) 619 – 4476
dmjclasam@dswd.gov.ph

VI. Links

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2019/04apr/20190417-RA-11310-RRD.pdf
https://pantawid.dswd.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/RA-11310.pdf