46T Indigents in CV Avail of DSWD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program

About 46,000 indigents from Central Visayas have availed of the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) in 2016. According to Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-7 Information Officer for Pantawid Pamilya, Phoebe Jen Indino, SLP is a multi-stakeholder program of DSWD that aims to improve the standard of living of poor households by facilitating opportunities for development and management of resources viable for micro-enterprises, community empowerment through skills training and employment facilitation.

“Of the 46,329 individuals who have availed of the SLP last year, 24,144 were under the Micro-enterprise Development (MD) while the rest went to Employment Facilitation (EF),” DSWD-7 Regional Director Ma. Evelyn Macapobre said. MD provides assistance to SLP beneficiaries by organizing them into groups, help them come up with a plan and monitor their livelihood projects to ensure that they are self-sustaining.

For EF, DSWD partners with the public and private sectors as service providers and subject-matter experts on financial literacy, resource mapping, market scanning technical and vocational skills training, financial literacy and credit assistance, and employment opportunities. Among the successful recipients of MD is Rosanna Santillan of Barangay Tipolo, Mandaue City together with 29 other beneficiaries are now successfully running a water refilling station.

Their project was in collaboration between the DSWD-7 through its Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) and the City Government of Mandaue.

“Isip president sa SLP diri sa Lower Tipolo Housing Association Inc. (LTHAI), dako akong pasalamat kay kini makatabang sa kita sa among pamilya ug makabayad mi sa among mga balayran sa balay. (Being the president of SLP here in LTHAI, I’m grateful for this since this will be an additional income for our families and it will help us pay the equity of our houses),” Santillan said.

Santillan together with the group members who previously lived in a danger zone now resides in the city’s housing relocation site. Her group earns an average of P45,000 to P50,000 a month in gross sales. Another beneficiary of MD assistance is the group of Nene Pableo in Moalboal,Cebu. Pableo’s group opened SLP Mini-mart late last year at the heart of the town’s market.

Their store earns P5,000 to P8,000 daily. To compete with other retailers, Pableo’s group offers discounts to PantawidPamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries or to those who will buy P3,000 worth of products in their store.

“Because we buy direct from the suppliers, the prices of our goods are competitive,” she shared.

Both Santillan and Pableo are 4Ps beneficiaries. They used to be housewives whose lives revolved around domestic realm of home and family until they became grantees of 4Ps that opened the opportunity for them to venture into business enterprise and lead other mothers like them to become productive.

Pableo disclosed that she used to rely on her husband’s income to raise their children but when the SLP mini-mart opened, she said: “I can now help my husband support our family.” Of the total SLP recipients, about 24,310 are grantees of 4Ps and another 22,019 are non-beneficiaries of 4Ps. Meanwhile, among the thousands who availed of the EF include Shaun Roen Roa, 24, who was a graduate of shielded metal arc welding at St. James Academy of Skills Technology, Inc. in Compostela, Cebu. Roa now works at HEB Engineering Works in Liloan, Cebu and is earning a good pay.

“SLP is a good project because it allows me to enroll in a vocational course as my parents cannot afford my college education,” he said.

Like Roa, Leonora Indab of Brgy. Jagobiao, Mandaue City also benefited from SLP as she was among the 68 4Ps women who completed the basic cosmetic treatment course last November 2016. Indab didn’t finish high school as she has to work early to support her family. Leonora and her classmates are now employed at Salon de Rose and Nuat Thai Foot and Body Massage.

Moreover, the SLP target this year targets to reach more than 20,000 individuals for both micro-enterprise development and employment facilitation.

“The number can still increase provided we have good budget utilization with the help of our partner implementers,” Macapobre cited as she underscored that DSWD-7 will definitely do its best to improve the delivery of its services. (rmn/jsme/PIA7-Cebu/DSWD-7)