Conditional Cash Transfer - Obstacles and Failed Programs - Exclusion

Exclusion

Another common obstacle to success in most CCTs is exclusion of needy homes in the targeting process. In an assessment by the World Bank, much exclusion was due to remote communities' inability to access schools or clinics. Many such communities fall into developing countries' most poverty-stricken populations but cannot follow through with conditionalities since the transportation costs to attend schools or hospital visits outweigh the benefits. Furthermore, an evaluation of Mexico's PROGRESA- Oportunidades program addresses the issue that those in poverty with debilitating illnesses can also be excluded from CCTs due to their physical inability to accomplish the conditionalities.

Exclusion has also been noted by both the World Bank study and the PROGRESA-Oportunidades evaluation evident in both community-based targeting and self-targeting approaches. In the case of self-targeting, used by Mexico's PROGRESA-Oportunidades, working women may be excluded from the program because they are unable to miss work to register or accomplish all conditions. In the case of community-based targeting, the World Bank study notes that the extremely poor who may live in generally middle-class communities will be excluded.