The Supérate program, today operating under the Dirección de Desarrollo Social Supérate created through Decree 356-25 (3 July 2025), provides a comprehensive package of resources focused on four primary areas: (1) Financial & Economic Stability, (2) Human Capital Development, (3) Social & Community Support, and (4) Infrastructure/Basic Needs.
Supérate was formally created in June 2021 through Decree 377-21 as a rebranding and expansion of the former PROSOLI (Programa Progresando con Solidaridad), which originally included three Conditional Cash Transfer components — Comer es Primero, Incentivo a la Asistencia Escolar, and Bono Escolar Estudiando Progresando — alongside complementary services. Through this transformation, several new components were introduced, broadening the programme’s scope and strengthening its integrated approach.
The CCT components are as follows:
- Aliméntate (former Comer es Primero): A conditional cash transfer (CCT) providing financial support for food security, linked to adherence to health co-responsibilities [primary health care visits, with emphasis on reproductive andchild health].
- Amount (monthly): RD$1,650 (≈ US$28.10 as of 20/01/2026)
- Aprende (former Incentivo a la Asistencia Escolar): A CCT for primary-level students to prevent dropout and increase years of schooling.
- Amounts (bimonthly): RD$300 (US$5.00) per child, grades 1–6, up to 4 children per household.
- Avanza: A CCT linked to children’s enrollment and attendance in middle and secondary education [minimum 80% attendance required].
- Amounts (bimonthly):
▪ Grade 7: RD$400 (US$6.67)
▪ Grade 8: RD$500 (US$8.33)
▪ Grade 9: RD$600 (US$10.00)
▪ Grade 10: RD$800 (US$13.33)
▪ Grade 11: RD$1,000 (US$16.67)
▪ Grade 12: RD$1,200 (US$20.00)
▪ Technical level: RD$1,400 (US$23.33)
The Supérate program also includes a number of other interventions, notably the Economic Inclusion package designed to foster self sufficiency and reduce reliance on conditional transfers.
Beyond economic inclusion, the program also features several important complementary instruments, including targeted disability benefits (Fondo de Discapacidad), housing grants, non-cash transfers like the BonoLuz & BonoGas energy subsidies, and a robust system of temporary, unconditional cash transfers such as the Bono de Emergencia and seasonal payments (Bono Navideño), all of which reinforce the social protection floor and enhance resilience against various shocks. Additionally, household care services are offered to promote female economic autonomy and guarantee the right to care, with a special emphasis on children and persons with disabilities.
Target groups
The program targets low-income households, with a special emphasis on women, children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly. Eligibility is determined using the Single Beneficiary System (SIUBEN), the national social registry, which categorizes households based on the Quality of Life Index (Índice de Calidad de Vida - ICV). The target groups include:
● Extreme and Moderate Poverty: Households categorized as ICV1 and ICV2.
● Conditional Eligibility: Households categorized as ICV3 and ICV4, subject to additional means verification.
To participate, potential beneficiaries must undergo a socioeconomic evaluation by SIUBEN using the Socioeconomic Household Information Questionnaire (Cuestionario de Información Socioeconómica de los Hogares - CISEH). For households classified as ICV3 and ICV4, Supérate and SIUBEN conduct a secondary means verification to confirm eligibility. This involves cross-referencing SIUBEN data with administrative databases, including among others:
● Public payroll and pensioner records.
● Social Security Treasury (TSS).
● Internal Revenue Service (DGII).
● Superintendency of Banks.
Final acceptance into the program requires that households meet these general poverty thresholds as well as the specific eligibility criteria for each individual program component. |Coverage indicators=According to ECLAC, the program as a whole (including economic inclusion components) reached 40,4% of households in poverty and 31,9% of Dominican households in extreme poverty in 2023. (ECLAC, 2025) From the Supérate en Cifras – Boletín Estadístico. T4, 2024 report from the last quarter of 2024:
● 60% of beneficiary households were led by women (Supérate en Cifras – Boletín Estadístico. T4, 2024)
● 1,445,612 households in extreme poverty received the conditional cash transfer component Aliméntate
● The program reached an approximate coverage of 92% of the national population categorized in extreme and moderate poverty (ICV-1 and ICV-2). |Cost indicators=Spending on monetary transfers from the Supérate Program amounted to 0.6% of the Dominican GDP in 2023, which is the double of pre pandemic disbursements. (IDB, 2024) |Type of governance=Supérate is a social policy program of the Presidency of the Dominican Republic, and an integral part of its Social Protection Network. The program is under the responsibility of the Supérate Social Development Directorate created by the Social Policy Cabinet in 2004 through Decree 1251-04, which institutionalized the anti- poverty strategy and established the Social Protection Network, comprising the SIUBEN (Decree 1073-04), the Comer es Primero program (now Aliméntate), and the Social Subsidy Administrator (ADESS) (Decree 1560-04).
SIUBEN is responsible for identifying and prioritizing households in poverty and vulnerability, while ADESS manages the payment of subsidies through the Solidaridad card and the Social Supply Network. In 2025, ADESS was integrated with Supérate into the Supérate Social Development Directorate, with the aim of strengthening efficiency, transparency, and coordination of services and programs, and SIUBEN became a part of the Ministerio de Hacienda (Decree 562-25).
The Supérate Program Information System (SIPS) is serves as the main MIS to process data, processes, activities, IT and communications.
Furthermore, SIUBEN (Sistema Único de Beneficiarios - Unified Beneficiary Identification System) has the necessary information in its Basic Emergency File (Ficha Básica de Emergencias - FIBE) to identify poor and vulnerable households.
In addition, the payment system of the Social Subsidies Administrator (ADESS) is increasingly digitized and has more payment mechanisms available to reach the beneficiaries of Supérate who need them most.
Findings (FY2022):
● Educational Attainment: The evaluation of the school transfer component, BEEP (secondary level school transfer, now Avanza), showed receiving the additional high school transfers increased the probability of completing high school by approximately 6.6 to 13.2 percentage points compared to students who did not receive the specific secondary-level transfers.
● Beneficiary satisfaction: Institutional efficiency and service quality were confirmed by a "very good" user satisfaction rating with an average of 4.8 out of 5 at its training centers, and the program achieved recertification of international standards for Quality (ISO 9001), Gender (G35), and Social Responsibility (G38).
Evaluations and reports on Supérate and its components highlight several key lessons:
● Digitalization and Accessibility: The use of digital tools has been a key lesson. The Supérate chatbot was noted for facilitating communication with the population, and the wide use of WhatsApp was important for implementation.
● Strengthening Institutional Leadership: A major lesson was the importance of reinforcing the institutional leadership role of the coordinating body—now the Dirección de Desarrollo Social Supérate—as the central articulator of social policy. Clear institutional mandates and governance improve program coherence and implementation quality.
● Multisectoral Coordination Is Critical: Effective social protection requires coordination across central government, local governments, social organizations, and the private sector.
-
SDG 1: No Poverty
● Target 1.3: Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable.
o Indicator: 1.A.2: Proportion of total government spending on essential services.
SDG 2: Zero Hunger
● Target 2.1: By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.
o Indicator: 2.3.2: Average income of small-scale food producers, disaggregated by sex.
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
● Target 3.8: Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
o Indicator: 3.c.1: Health worker density and distribution.
SDG 5: Gender Equality
● Target 5.4: Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate.
o Indicator: 5.a.1: Proportion of individuals who have access to microcredit disaggregated by sex.
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
● Target 10.3: Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard.
o Indicator: 10.3.1: Proportion of people reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed.
SDG 1: No Poverty
● Target 1.3: Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable.
o Indicator: 1.A.2: Proportion of total government spending on essential services.
SDG 2: Zero Hunger
● Target 2.1: By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.
o Indicator: 2.3.2: Average income of small-scale food producers, disaggregated by sex.
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
● Target 3.8: Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
o Indicator: 3.c.1: Health worker density and distribution.
SDG 5: Gender Equality
● Target 5.4: Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate.
o Indicator: 5.a.1: Proportion of individuals who have access to microcredit disaggregated by sex.
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
● Target 10.3: Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard.
o Indicator: 10.3.1: Proportion of people reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed.
The Supérate program, today operating under the Dirección de Desarrollo Social Supérate created through Decree 356-25 (3 July 2025), provides a comprehensive package of resources focused on four primary areas: (1) Financial & Economic Stability, (2) Human Capital Development, (3) Social & Community Support, and (4) Infrastructure/Basic Needs.
Supérate was formally created in June 2021 through Decree 377-21 as a rebranding and expansion of the former PROSOLI (Programa Progresando con Solidaridad), which originally included three Conditional Cash Transfer components — Comer es Primero, Incentivo a la Asistencia Escolar, and Bono Escolar Estudiando Progresando — alongside complementary services. Through this transformation, several new components were introduced, broadening the programme’s scope and strengthening its integrated approach.
The CCT components are as follows:
- Aliméntate (former Comer es Primero): A conditional cash transfer (CCT) providing financial support for food security, linked to adherence to health co-responsibilities [primary health care visits, with emphasis on reproductive andchild health].
- Amount (monthly): RD$1,650 (≈ US$28.10 as of 20/01/2026)
- Aprende (former Incentivo a la Asistencia Escolar): A CCT for primary-level students to prevent dropout and increase years of schooling.
- Amounts (bimonthly): RD$300 (US$5.00) per child, grades 1–6, up to 4 children per household.
- Avanza: A CCT linked to children’s enrollment and attendance in middle and secondary education [minimum 80% attendance required].
- Amounts (bimonthly):
▪ Grade 7: RD$400 (US$6.67)
▪ Grade 8: RD$500 (US$8.33)
▪ Grade 9: RD$600 (US$10.00)
▪ Grade 10: RD$800 (US$13.33)
▪ Grade 11: RD$1,000 (US$16.67)
▪ Grade 12: RD$1,200 (US$20.00)
▪ Technical level: RD$1,400 (US$23.33)
The Supérate program also includes a number of other interventions, notably the Economic Inclusion package designed to foster self sufficiency and reduce reliance on conditional transfers.
Beyond economic inclusion, the program also features several important complementary instruments, including targeted disability benefits (Fondo de Discapacidad), housing grants, non-cash transfers like the BonoLuz & BonoGas energy subsidies, and a robust system of temporary, unconditional cash transfers such as the Bono de Emergencia and seasonal payments (Bono Navideño), all of which reinforce the social protection floor and enhance resilience against various shocks. Additionally, household care services are offered to promote female economic autonomy and guarantee the right to care, with a special emphasis on children and persons with disabilities.
Target groups
The program targets low-income households, with a special emphasis on women, children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly. Eligibility is determined using the Single Beneficiary System (SIUBEN), the national social registry, which categorizes households based on the Quality of Life Index (Índice de Calidad de Vida – ICV). The target groups include:
● Extreme and Moderate Poverty: Households categorized as ICV1 and ICV2.
● Conditional Eligibility: Households categorized as ICV3 and ICV4, subject to additional means verification.
To participate, potential beneficiaries must undergo a socioeconomic evaluation by SIUBEN using the Socioeconomic Household Information Questionnaire (Cuestionario de Información Socioeconómica de los Hogares – CISEH). For households classified as ICV3 and ICV4, Supérate and SIUBEN conduct a secondary means verification to confirm eligibility. This involves cross-referencing SIUBEN data with administrative databases, including among others:
● Public payroll and pensioner records.
● Social Security Treasury (TSS).
● Internal Revenue Service (DGII).
● Superintendency of Banks.
Final acceptance into the program requires that households meet these general poverty thresholds as well as the specific eligibility criteria for each individual program component. |Coverage indicators=According to ECLAC, the program as a whole (including economic inclusion components) reached 40,4% of households in poverty and 31,9% of Dominican households in extreme poverty in 2023. (ECLAC, 2025) From the Supérate en Cifras – Boletín Estadístico. T4, 2024 report from the last quarter of 2024:
● 60% of beneficiary households were led by women (Supérate en Cifras – Boletín Estadístico. T4, 2024)
● 1,445,612 households in extreme poverty received the conditional cash transfer component Aliméntate
● The program reached an approximate coverage of 92% of the national population categorized in extreme and moderate poverty (ICV-1 and ICV-2). |Cost indicators=Spending on monetary transfers from the Supérate Program amounted to 0.6% of the Dominican GDP in 2023, which is the double of pre pandemic disbursements. (IDB, 2024) |Type of governance=Supérate is a social policy program of the Presidency of the Dominican Republic, and an integral part of its Social Protection Network. The program is under the responsibility of the Supérate Social Development Directorate created by the Social Policy Cabinet in 2004 through Decree 1251-04, which institutionalized the anti- poverty strategy and established the Social Protection Network, comprising the SIUBEN (Decree 1073-04), the Comer es Primero program (now Aliméntate), and the Social Subsidy Administrator (ADESS) (Decree 1560-04).
SIUBEN is responsible for identifying and prioritizing households in poverty and vulnerability, while ADESS manages the payment of subsidies through the Solidaridad card and the Social Supply Network. In 2025, ADESS was integrated with Supérate into the Supérate Social Development Directorate, with the aim of strengthening efficiency, transparency, and coordination of services and programs, and SIUBEN became a part of the Ministerio de Hacienda (Decree 562-25).
Evaluations and reports on Supérate and its components highlight several key lessons:
● Digitalization and Accessibility: The use of digital tools has been a key lesson. The Supérate chatbot was noted for facilitating communication with the population, and the wide use of WhatsApp was important for implementation.
● Strengthening Institutional Leadership: A major lesson was the importance of reinforcing the institutional leadership role of the coordinating body—now the Dirección de Desarrollo Social Supérate—as the central articulator of social policy. Clear institutional mandates and governance improve program coherence and implementation quality.
● Multisectoral Coordination Is Critical: Effective social protection requires coordination across central government, local governments, social organizations, and the private sector.
Integrated programmes for economic inclusion; Unconditional cash transfer; Job placement/intermediation; Child and family support/benefits; Training (vocational, life skills, cash for training, entrepreneurship)
The Supérate Program Information System (SIPS) is serves as the main MIS to process data, processes, activities, IT and communications.
Furthermore, SIUBEN (Sistema Único de Beneficiarios – Unified Beneficiary Identification System) has the necessary information in its Basic Emergency File (Ficha Básica de Emergencias – FIBE) to identify poor and vulnerable households.
In addition, the payment system of the Social Subsidies Administrator (ADESS) is increasingly digitized and has more payment mechanisms available to reach the beneficiaries of Supérate who need them most.