Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) have been heralded across the political spectrum as a fast, affordable way to improve the global poor’s access to basic services and bring about important social gains. The International Monetary Fund claims that CCTs are “smart economics” that “empower women,” while Argentine President Cristina Kirchner praises the programs for contributing to development and promoting the inclusion of “the most vulnerable sectors” of society.

CCT mechanisms are quite simple. The recipient meets certain conditions — such as going for a check-up while pregnant, bringing their newborn for follow-up visits, or sending their child to school — and in return receives a cash transfer from the state.

The payments are small. In Bolivia, for example, the program for pregnant women, named after the revolutionary indigenous leader Juana Azurduy, pays around $20 USD a visit during gestation and the first two years of the child’s life. It, like most CCTs, focuses on social reproduction, targeting women, specifically poor mothers.