Given the success of conditional cash transfer programs elsewhere, in 2010 the Government of Tanzania launched a pilot conditional cash transfer program in three districts. The program used a model that relied on communities to target beneficiaries, monitor conditions, and deliver payments. The aim was to understand whether such a program could improve outcomes for the poor in the way more centrally administered conditional cash transfer programs have in other contexts. The program provided cash payments to poor households, conditional on their compliance with certain health and education requirements aimed at children and the elderly. Because resources were scarce, the government randomly selected 40 out of 80 eligible villages to receive the pilot program. Households in participating and comparison villages were broadly comparable at baseline.