Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Ministry of Social Solidarity

Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) BOLSA ME Program by

Antnia Carmen da Cruz & Rogrio Nelson Alves

Program Evolution
A. Name of the Program:
BOLSA ME

B. Total Budget and Total Target Population:

Year
Budget Beneficiary Families (unit
household)

2008
$409,200 6,504

2009
$525,400 7,885

2010
$824,966 12,728

2011
$844,720 11,800

2012
$1,898,400 13,814

2013
$5,130,000 Target of over 33,000 Program now excludes university students Program now excludes university students $270,000

Budget Student beneficiaries at national universities Budget Student beneficiaries at universities in Indonesia Operational Budget

$105,600 440

$156,000 650

$132,000 550

$385,680 1,607

$238,080 992 Last Payment

$ 38,160 106

$67,760 188

$64,800 180

$180,360 501

$77,040 214 Last Payment

$68,750

$80,375

$94,760

$100,000

$150,000

Distribution of Families beneficiaries in 2013

Total families Registered : 32.025

General Objectives and Target Groups

Breaking the intergenerational poverty cycle through ensuring the opportunity for access to education and health for children of vulnerable families

Specific Objectives and Target Population:

Education:

Access to the years of compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14 years old Access to secondary education for children aged 15 to 17 years Reducing the number of children who drop out of school

Health:

Improving access to health care /immunization for children aged of 0-5 years old

Specific Objectives (continued)

Poverty:
Improved household income through participation in the program

Gender Equality:
Empowerment of women Promotion of gender equality regarding childrens access to education Contributing to access for children aged 0-5 years to registration and to obtaining a national identity/birth certificate

Implementing Institution
Ministry of Social Solidarity (MSS) with co-responsibility of: Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health for monitoring and ensuring an adequate supply of schools and basic health services; Ministry of Finance & National Bank of Commerce of TimorLeste for payments to beneficiaries; Ministry of State Administration for attesting national identity and dissemination of Bolsa Me program to the communities trough local authorities.

Institutions and Governance

The National Directorate of Social Reinsertion within the Ministry of Social and Solidarity is the implementer of the program through:
A central team at National level - Program planning and budgeting; production of registration forms; Data base and data analysis, monitoring and evaluation. 13 focal points at District level - act as liaison officers between the central team, social animators, child protection officers and local authorities; data entry of all date collected trough the registration forms. 65 Social Animators at Sub-District level Dissemination of the Program; Data collection and registration of beneficiaries and organize beneficiaries for payment; 13 child protection officers are responsible for information dissemination and referral of cases.

Targeting Beneficiaries
Single parents families who are living under poverty line with the following conditions:
without income or with a very low income; with children aged 0-17 years old; with physically or mentally disabled children and Families with children aged 0-5 years who have not been immunized.

Selection: Targeting Mechanism

The selection criteria and how they are weighted are as follows: Household income of children aged 0-17 years Head of household in the family of children aged 0-17 with disability 25% 25% 25% 25%

Registration
Calendar 1. 2. 3. 4. September to October - Registration of Beneficiaries; January of following year - Data Entry from November to December and continue to; February - Data base analysis; March to April : 6. Announcement and publication of the list of eligible families and excluded families; service complaints from beneficiaries / families excluded / from the communities

May to July - Payment process (slide3)

Documents needed for registration:

A copy of a national identity card; A copy of the birth certificates of the children; A residency statement from the community leader; Documentation of school enrolment of all the children A document on the economic situation of household.

Process of Collecting Beneficiaries Data

Payment Mechanism, and Monitoring & Evaluation

Cash Payment of Beneficiaries still in 7 districts by the Ministry of Finance; - Operational cost to the team of payment Bank account Payment by National Commerce Bank Timor-Leste: - started Pilot Payment in Dili (Capital) district on 2012; - expand Payment to more 5 districts 2013 and - Each transfer costs $0.50 cents The monitoring and evaluation is done when the registration and payments are taking place. Evaluation of the impact of the program will be commenced in June-July 2013.

Financing and Fiscal Sustainability

An estimated 41% of the population is living under the poverty line (UNDP, 2011). Average non-oil GDP per capita income increased from $398 in 2007 to $599 in 2009 (UNDP, 2011). Compulsory education is free of charge. Public Health is free of charge. Re-registration and evaluation of eligibility is done every two years; a family can stay in the program for more than two years. The transfers are $60 per year for a family with one child, $120 per year for a family with two children, and $180 per year for a family with three or more children.

Financing and Fiscal Sustainability (continued)

Year Ministry of Health

2009 $32,893-

2010 $35,692-

2011 $38,198-

2012 $48,323-

2013 $61,508

Ministry of Education

$70,407-

$67,486-

$70,139-

$94,773-

$91,827-

Ministry of Social Solidarity

$74,523-

$69,597-

$118,728-

$127,986-

$147,663-

Gender Dimensions of CCTs

Specific gender equality outcomes of the Bolsa Me program are as follows:
Empowerment of women headed households - 94% of the 13,814 single-parent family beneficiaries in 2012 Reduced vulnerability of women and girls; women have access to cash (MDGF Case Study, 2012) Reduced womens dependency (MDGF Case Study, 2012) Increased chance of girls gaining access to schools (MDGF Case Study, 2012) Reduced chance of domestic violence due to financial difficulties (MDGF Case Study, 2012)

Issues and Challenges

Geographic and infrastructure barriers; Program expansion and program focus; Security issues; Enhancement of inter-ministerial collaboration; Development of human resources capacity; Lack of some resources to support the implementation of the program and A study of the impact of the program on beneficiary household income is needed.

Contact Information
Ministry of Social Solidarity Republic Democratic of Timor-Leste Contact: Name: Antnia Carmen da Cruz Position: Director of National Directorate for Social Reinsertion Telephone Number: Landline: +670 3331121 Mobile: +670 77274156 E-mail: dacruz_carmen@yahoo.com