Isn't that exactly how this program was operating? Short-term reward payoff: monthly cash; long-term reward: children graduate from school.
In the example that I gave, you brush your teeth, your mouth feels better right away. That works.
By contrast if you start working on your project now, next week you won't have a miserable all-nighter. That doesn't work. Just ask anyone in college if you doubt me.
That is why a monthly feedback cycle did not prove to be successful motivation here.
I wonder though, isn't forgoing small short-term rewards for greater long-term rewards a key aspect of escaping poverty? How can you condition that behavior with short-term rewards?
But well-off people that I know manage to forgo short-term rewards by having an internal counteracting short-term reward in line with the desired long-term reward. Maybe this is a teachable skill..?