Sustainable Livelihood Program beneficiaries from Davao City who have graduated from the program’s Training on Bread and Pastry Production takes pride in their thriving bakery business.

As part of its reinforced commitment to alleviate poverty and empower the disadvantaged sectors through the provision of appropriate interventions, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to implement the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), a community-based capacity building program that aims to improve the socio-economic condition of poor Filipinos by facilitating opportunities for development and management of resources viable for micro-enterprises and employment facilitation.

Under SLP, beneficiaries are given the option to register in either the micro-enterprise development track or the employment facilitation track after participating in social preparation and capacity-building activities.

Last year, SLP served a total of 134,923 households nationwide. Of this number, 98,643 households were assisted under the micro-enterprise development track, consisting of 90,842 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) households and 7,801 non-4Ps households.

Meanwhile, 36,280 households underwent the employment facilitation track, consisting of 32,655 4Ps households and 3,625 non-Pantawid households.

The budget allotted for SLP projects in 2017 amounted to P9,112,556,000 while the budget for 2018 is P5,060,000,000.

Effective implementation

Significantly, DSWD Field Office 1 through its SLP ranked first and 7th on the effective implementation of Microenterprise Development (MD) and Employment Facilitation (EF) tracks, respectively, among the 17 regions in the country in 2017. This concludes DSWD FO 1 to land second in the over-all ranking on the implementation of both tracks.

Last year, DSWD FO I utilized a total of P55,671,522 for Microenterprise Development modality benefitting 3,597 households. This track focuses on starting, expanding or rehabilitating microenterprises.

On the other hand, the Employment Facilitation modality utilized  a total of P15,065,215 benefitting 1,679 households. This track provides assistance to qualified participants seeking employment.

The region has been continuously monitoring and providing needed assistance to 23,618 beneficiaries since 2015. Meanwhile, 102 Sustainable Livelihood Program Associations (SLPAs) were accredited as CSO beneficiaries of DSWD in 2017, while 31 others are still in the process of accreditation. Beneficiary CSOs are comprised of individuals bound by common interest and/ or are confronted by a calamity, social condition, problem, issues or crisis and who organized themselves mainly to benefit from government projects or programs that they themselves will undertake.

Recently, DSWD FO I and the Cooperative Development Authority Dagupan City Extension Office (CDA-DEO) sealed a P1,529,580 worth of partnership project for the implementation of various skills training on microenterprise development intervention in the region through DSWD’s SLP. The total fund is broken down into  P1,490,580 from the DSWD SLP GAA 2018 while the remaining P39,000 will be the counterpart of  CDA-DEO.

Success stories

Evelyn Real, 42,  graduated from the Skills Training on Business Management leading to Food Cart Business in 2017.  The DSWD gave her a food cart business in San Juan, La Union; she said that the grant given to her family will be  very helpful to her efforts to ensure that her children continue attending school.

Another beneficiary, Glenn Mirabel, 36, from Sinait, Ilocos Sur, one of the Security Guard graduates last July 2017 expounded,“Napalalo ti yamanko ta nairamanak nga nabenepisioan. Barbareng no makabirokak ti napintas a pagtrabahoan tapno saan kamin (pamilyak) ton a maibilang a 4Ps (I’m very grateful to be included in the program. I look forward to getting a good job so my family, will no longer be listed as Pantawid Pamilya beneficiary).”

Glenn, who is a farmer before enrolling in the program, admitted that the compensation he gets out of farming is not enough to sustain the needs of his growing family.

Likewise, in Davao City, 65 beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya who graduated from the Bread and Pastry Production training by the SLP have received capital assistance from the DSWD which they used to open their own bakeries.

“Dako kaayo among kalipay nga kami nahatagan og dungag nga kapital sa among gamay nga bakery diri sa barangay. Kini usa ka hagit kanamo tanan nga palamboon gayod ang gibubo sa amo nga grasya sa panggamhanan (We are overwhelmed with happiness with the additional capital we received for our small bakery. We are all inspired to make good of this blessing from government),” Gina Bisnar, one of the members of the BBJ bakery said.

As DSWD Officer-In-Charge Emmanuel Leyco stated, “Kasabay ng bagong taon ay ang paniniguro natin na maging maagap at patuloy na may malasakit ang ating paglilingkod. Makaka-asa ang publiko na ang mga programa at serbisyo ng DSWD, kasama na ang mga programang pangkabuhayan ay bukas para sa mga nangangailangan (As we usher in the new year, we also assure the public of our renewed commitment to serve.  Rest assured that the programs and services of DSWD including our livelihood programs are open to all those in need).” ###