Sosyal Polİtİka tİka - Eğitim ve Yayın Dairesi Başkanlığı - Aile ve ...

Yıl: 12 Cilt: 7 Sayı: 29 Temmuz - Aralık 2012
3.2. The CCT Programme in Turkey
The CCT programme in Turkey was firstly launched by the Social Risk Mitigation Project
(SRMP) in 2003. The SRMP was a part of responses by the Government of the day
to devastating earthquakes and severe financial shocks that struck Turkey at the end
of 1990s and beginning of 2000s. The SRMP was designed to serve for two essential
goals as contributing to mitigate the destructive impact of these natural disasters and
financial crisis over poor families and fostering their capacity to overcome similar
possible crisis (The World Bank, 2008, p.7). The project was financed mainly by Work
Bank through loan agreement. However, Government of Turkey made a significant
financial contribution for the SRMP. SRMP activities were coordinated by a Project
Coordination Unit (PCU), embedded to the Prime Ministry General Directorate of Social
Assistance and Solidarity (GDSAS), which is predecessor of GDSA. Following the
closing of the SRMP in March 2007, the programmes, including the CCT programme,
that were carried out by SRMP PCU were operationally and financially undertaken by
GDSA. From the beginning of SRMP, there were and are two types of benefits under
the CCT programme in Turkey as education and health benefit. Similar to other CCT
programmes, applicants are assessed by mean tests and they are required to perform
certain conditions in order to maintain their status once they are granted beneficiary
status. These conditions which are vital for the maintenance of beneficiary status will
be respectively detailed for each type of benefits.
In order to benefit from CCT education or health component, applications should
be made to local Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundations (SASFs) located in each
province and sub-province. Applicants are usually mothers and expectant mothers or
legal carers of children in exceptional conditions. GDSA benefits from a proxy means
scoring formula to examine applicants. This formula was generated by a model that
aims to estimate “per capita household consumption expenditure” as a function of
household assets, demographics, geographic location, and other relevant variables.
Relevant data of applicants regarding these variables are collected through an application
form at the beginning of application. Then, the data on this application form
is verified by using Social Assistance Information System (SOYBIS), run by GDSA and
random house visits. After data verification phase, children of applicant or expectant
mother are granted beneficiary status if the result of scoring formula is below the
predetermined cut-off score. The eligibility of the beneficiary status is checked once
in a year (International Food Policy Research Institute, 2007, p.79).
CCT education and health benefits have specific target groups, conditions and they
also cover different age groups. For instance, CCT education benefits target the children
of the families who are among the poorest six percent of the population. After
being granted CTT education beneficiaries as result of similar process above, children
are required to have eighty percent of school attendance rate and not to repeat the
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