DSWD-XI seeks partnership with private sector, CSOs for livelihood program implementation

DAVAO CITY, Jan. 26 (PIA) – The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Region XI has once again sought partnership with various government agencies, private sector, non-government organizations and civil society organizations in the implementation of the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) this year.

In a partnership forum held Tuesday in the city, DSWD-XI has called on the support and commitment of the agencies and organizations from all over Davao Region for a strengthened and successful execution of the initiatives and projects under SLP.

Rebecca Santamaria, DSWD-XI assistant regional director for operations, said the agency engages with partners and takes direction from the framework “Bantay, Gabay, Tulay at Kaagapay” that ensures transparency and capabilities enhancement for the program implementation.

Santamaria bared that the agency has allocated a budget amounting to P291 million for the SLP this year, saying “With this big budget, we need help from partners to tightly watch over the implementation of projects.. We need stewardship for (this) government money.”

She said that an agency or organization could help DSWD in monitoring and evaluating the progress of a project, or could share the expertise for skills and knowledge enhancement for a project under SLP.

An organization could also propose to DSWD a viable and appropriate project for a specific community beneficiary, she added.

The SLP is one of DSWD programs that aims to provide a source of additional income for the poor families listed under the agency’s Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), an information management system that identifies qualified beneficiaries for the social protection services.

Santamaria said the Listahanan has registered 272,000 poor households in Davao Region during the first round of assessment in 2009, adding that the listed poor families are targeted to be served until 2016.

DSWD-XI has already served 77 per cent of the total poor households in the region, she added.

She said the second round of assessment will be conducted late March or early April this year, urging all those poor families to be enumerated during the assessment.

“They have to coordinate with their respective barangay officials for the schedules of assessment,” Santamaria stated, adding that the agency is on the process of hiring enumerators for the second round assessment.

Meanwhile, Santamaria bared that P90 million budget has been allocated for the region this year for the implementation of projects under the Bottom up Budgeting where DSWD partners with the local government units for the project implementation.

She said that the nationwide budget for the Conditional Cash Transfer or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is pegged at P60 billion, Kalahi CIDSS program gets P17 billion budget. (PIA-11/Carina L. Cayon)