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International DevelopmentCash transferPositive

Colombia Familias en Acción

Colombian government / Inter-American Development Bank · Rural Colombia · 2001

Summary

Colombia's Familias en Acción provided one of the cleanest tests of the conditional cash transfer model outside Mexico. The municipality-level randomization allowed comparison of similar communities with and without the program. School enrollment, nutrition, and health check-up rates all improved substantially. Notably, the program had larger effects on younger children's nutrition than schooling—a finding that shaped the subsequent emphasis on the first 1,000 days (conception to age 2) in development programs. The study is regularly cited alongside PROGRESA as foundational evidence for CCT design.

Research question

"Does a conditional cash transfer program improve health and education outcomes for poor children in Colombia?"

Methodology

Intervention

Cash transfers conditional on school attendance and preventive health check-ups for families below the poverty line

Assignment

Randomized controlled trial (municipality)

Sample size

122 municipalities (57 treatment, 65 control); ~50,000 families

Primary outcome

School enrollment; child nutrition; health checkup attendance; consumption

Effect estimate

School enrollment (grades 1–3): +5 to +8 pp; child height-for-age: +0.16 SD (significant for under-2); consumption: +18%; health visits: +31 pp

Decision

Program expanded to cover all poor families nationally; nutritional supplement added based on results; replicated across Latin America

Result

Positive

School enrollment (grades 1–3): +5 to +8 pp; child height-for-age: +0.16 SD (significant for under-2); consumption: +18%; health visits: +31 pp

Evidence strength

Strong

Randomized trial, replicated across multiple sites or studies.

Replication status

Replicated

Institution

Colombian government / Inter-American Development Bank

Location

Rural Colombia

Year

2001

Policy area

International Development

Mechanism

Cash transfer

More from these institutions

Other trials of this mechanism

Cite this entry

Colombian government / Inter-American Development Bank. (2001). Colombia Familias en Acción. The Experiment Society Registry. Retrieved from https://www.experimentsociety.org/registry/colombia-familias-en-accion (primary report: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304387805001422)

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Mentioned in the Dispatch

Issue 01 · April 3, 2026

How conditional cash transfers actually work.

The mechanism behind Mexico's Progresa and what three decades of evidence shows.

← Back to registryWhat the evidence shows →