Progresando con Solidaridad (ProSoli) — now Supérate
ProSoli was the Dominican Republic's national conditional cash transfer program, created by the government in 2012 to unify economic transfers with human-capital and social-inclusion services for poor and extremely poor families. It is fully funded and run by the national government (via the Vice Presidency's Social Policy Cabinet), delivering cash and subsidies through a magnetic/chip card conditioned on children's school attendance and health check-ups, plus socio-educational accompaniment. In June 2021 the program was formally rebranded and expanded as "Supérate," which now channels most of the Dominican government's social subsidies (food, gas, electricity, education, housing, women's protection) to well over one million households nationwide.
Conditional Cash Transfer, National Program, SIUBEN Proxy-Means Test, Multi-Component Social Protection, Dominican Republic, Prepaid Card, Rebranded Program (ProSoli to Supérate)
Headquarters
- Organization Name
- Dirección de Desarrollo Social Supérate (formerly Dirección General Progresando con Solidaridad), Vicepresidencia de la República Dominicana
- City
- Santo Domingo
- State / Province
- Distrito Nacional
- Country
- Dominican Republic
Contact
- Website
- https://www.superate.gob.do/
- Phone
- +1 809 920 2081
- Social media links
Status & Funding
- Organization status
- Active
- Program status
- Active
- Application status
- Rolling
- Number of recipients
- 1,500,000
- Funding type
- Government
Benefits
- Currency Type
- Fiat
- Payment frequency
- Monthly
- Ongoing / unconditional
- Yes
- Distribution Type
- Prepaid/magnetic debit card (Tarjeta Solidaridad, now Tarjeta Supérate), Direct bank deposit (used for some emergency subsidies)
- Benefit details
The flagship transfer, formerly "Comer es Primero" and now "Aliméntate," pays a flat RD$1,650 (~USD $27) per month per household onto the card, usable only at authorized Red de Abasto Social merchants for a basic food basket, conditioned on primary health checkups (especially maternal/child health). Education incentives (formerly ILAE/BEEP, now APRENDE/AVANZA) pay RD$300–1,400 per child every two months depending on school grade, conditioned on 80% school attendance. Additional linked subsidies include BonoGas Hogar (~RD$228/month for cooking gas), BonoLuz (variable, up to RD$444/month for electricity), and Supérate Mujer (RD$10,000/month for women survivors of gender violence). A temporary COVID-19 "Quédate en Casa" transfer (RD$5,000–7,000/month) operated 2020–2021 but is no longer active.
Eligibility
Overview
- Eligibility details
Households are identified — not self-nominated — through the government's Sistema Único de Beneficiarios (SIUBEN) census and its proxy-means-tested Quality of Life Index (ICV): families classified ICV-1 (extreme poverty) or ICV-2 (moderate poverty) are automatically eligible nationwide. Specific sub-components add narrower targets: education incentives require children aged roughly 5–21 enrolled in primary/secondary school; Supérate Mujer targets women who are victims of gender-based violence; other subsidy lines separately target elderly people, people with disabilities, and households needing housing or identity-document support.
Family
- Family Status
- Parent
Health
- Disability status
- Yes
Geography
- Countries covered
- Dominican Republic
- Residency of Target Geography
- Yes
Participation
- Research / data sharing
- Optional
- Complementary program enrollment required
- Subsidized health insurance (SENASA) linkage for extreme-poverty households under the "Progresando Unidos" strategy, Banca Solidaria microfinance/technical training for Supérate Mujer participants
- Research / participation requirements
The program has been the subject of numerous independent, government-permitted randomized evaluations by J-PAL/IPA-affiliated researchers (e.g., studies on conditional cash transfers plus commitment savings accounts, and on linking transfers to low-risk microcredit), plus government-commissioned nutrition and impact assessments (with FAO and WFP). These studies use subsets of ProSoli/Supérate beneficiaries as study or comparison groups but participation in a specific research study is not a universal condition of receiving the core cash transfer.
Application Process
- How to apply
There is no open individual application; enrollment is driven by the government's SIUBEN household census/survey, which assigns each surveyed household a Quality-of-Life Index score. Households that believe they were missed can request that SIUBEN conduct or update their survey (through local SIUBEN/municipal offices) to be considered in a future intake; the program has continued adding new cohorts (e.g., roughly 40,000 new families added in a single month reported in 2025).
- Selection process
Selection is automatic and rules-based: any household surveyed by SIUBEN and scored ICV-1 (extreme poverty) or ICV-2 (moderate poverty) on the Quality of Life Index qualifies for the core transfer. A household's family liaison ("enlace familiar") signs them to a co-responsibility contract (school attendance, health checkups, participation in workshops). SIUBEN recertifies each household's ICV score every four years, and repeated failure to meet conditionalities can lead to suspension or exit.
