Extending Social Services throughout the Philippines

In the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis, the Philippines’ health and education sectors were scrambling for resources.  In 1998, spending on education—textbooks, classroom desks and chairs for students, and training programs for teachers—dwindled to a new low.  The Department of Health spent only 25 percent of its budget on drugs and medicine.  These developments led to a serious deterioration in the quality and accessibility of basic social services.

The World Bank-funded Social Expenditure Management Project, approved in 2000, supported the government’s provision of basic social services to the poorest parts of the country. About 375,000 families in 3,700 villages have been assisted through the program.  The loan also helped to maintain and operate centers, institutions and programs for distressed and disadvantaged groups, serving about 33,000 children; 9,000 adolescents; 40,000 women; and 5,000 persons with disabilities.

Among the outcomes of the project have been the building of 675 new classrooms and the repair and maintenance of another 15,000.  Some 25 million textbooks have been distributed.  Some 545,000 desks and chairs have been delivered to schools throughout the country.  Roughly 5,000 teachers have been trained in teaching methods.

 Social Expenditure Management Project
 Social Expenditure Management Project (02)

Updated: September 2002