Can conditional cash transfers promote delayed childbearing? Evidence from the ‘Second Honeymoon Package’ in rural Maharashtra, India

ABSTRACT

In 2007 the District Health Services in Satara District, Maharashtra, India, undertook an innovative programme, ‘the Second Honeymoon Package’ (SHP), which aimed to reduce the rate of population growth by offering conditional cash transfers (CCTs) to newly married couples who agreed to postpone their first birth by two or three years. The approach differed from India's traditional family planning programme, based mainly on female sterilisation, by promoting ‘non-terminal’ contraceptive methods, such as condoms and pills. The SHP ended prematurely in 2010 without being fully evaluated, leaving unanswered the question of its impact and potential for scale-up.

This paper addresses this question by investigating the perceptions and experiences women and couples who participated in the programme, as well as the views of local health staff. We use quantitative data from a 2010 survey of 1355 SHP participants, in which the third author was involved, and new qualitative data from a total of 26 programme staff and participants, collected by the first two authors in 2015. Participants’ perceptions of the programme indicate that the SHP had many positive attributes, despite some major challenges. We conclude with recommendations for improving and scaling up programmes of this kind in India and elsewhere.

KEYWORDS:

• Conditional cash transfers
• population growth
• postponing first birth
• Maharashtra
• India
• benefits
• constraints

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Dr. Amitav Banerjee and Dr. D.T. Khedkar of D.Y. Patil Medical College, Hospital and Research Center, Pune, and Dr. Dilip Mane, District Health Officer, Satara, for making it possible for facilitating the qualitative research discussed in this paper, and Dr. A.K. Pratinidhi for her insights on this topic.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.