Approach Paper: Comparative Case Studies: Review of IDB Support to Conditional Cash Transfers in Three Low Income Countries

The IDB has been one of the main supporters of the large expansion of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last 15 years. These programs are designed to tackle poverty by encouraging certain outcomes, such as keeping children in school and attending health checkups, as a requirement for receiving a cash transfer. During 2014 the Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE) will conduct a comparative analysis of IDB CCT projects in three lower income countries of the region. The evaluation is expected to provide useful lessons to Bank staff for the design of future operations that involve CCTs in these or similar countries.