Advocacy Assessment based on Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes Essay

Advocacy Assessment based on Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes... (see attachment) - Essay Example mote the Progresa as the model for CCTs or safety net programmes in countries in which the World Bank has a policy influence like in Nicaragua (Bradshaw 2008, citing the work of SEDESOL 2003). Bradshaw (2008), however, advanced five criticisms on the Progresa/Oportunidades model. First, the empowerment of women is only incidental rather than a main aim of the Progresa. In words of Bradshaw (2008) as suggested by Molyneux (2006), women are â€Å"at the service of the New Poverty Agenda rather than served by this agenda.† Second, based on the experience of the Progresa/Oportunidades, the higher grant for women’s enrolment into schools were interpreted by beneficiaries as higher costs involved in sending females to schools thereby discouraging the poor to send their girls to schools. Third, the Progresa/Opurtinadades program failed to explicitly recognize the highly unequal relations between men and women in the households and, thus, even if wives are allowed by their husbands to collect money under the CCTs, the power relations in the households remain lopsided in favour of males. Fourth, the CCT as implemented in the Progresa/Opurtunidades failed to target th e poorest among the poor well enough. Finally or fifth, the CCT as implemented in the Progresa/Oportunidades have been inadequate in teaching mothers the â€Å"mothering skills† in â€Å"improving their families’ health, nutrition, and education.† Based on the program implementation assessment, the key features of a CCT program that should be implemented in Nicaragua is something that has benefited from the lessons that can be obtained on the CCT as implemented in Mexico and other countries. In upgrading the CCT program, we can derive valuable lessons from Bradshaw (2008) that can improve the implementation of the CCT in Nicaragua. The lessons from Bradshaw (2008) can be translated into a five-point reform for the CCT in Nicaragua. First, we must include the empowerment of women of women as the main aims of