the allowance contributes to the payment of housing and utilities poor households are eligible if actual housing and utility costs exceed a certain percentage of total household income family allowances targeted to poor families with children under were introduced in followed by targeted maternal allowances for unemployed mothers with young children in unicef a another innovation introduced at the same time was the use of communitybased targeting through the local mahalla system local bodies of selfgovernment there is also a categorical disability allowance for disabled children and a school set for firstgrade students unicef b