DSWD Releases Seed Capital Fund to SLP Participants

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 7 through the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) has continued releasing livelihood assistance to different associations in Central Visayas.

For the first two months of 2018, the DSWD 7 SLP has already released a total of                 Php 13,027,650.00 capital seed fund to these associations in 20 local government units namely Cebu City, Alcantara, Balamban, Barili, Borbon, Carcar, Compostela, Dalaguete, Malabuyoc, Mandaue, Oslob, Samboan, Santander, Sibonga, Tabogon, in Cebu; Bacong, Negros Oriental and Candijay, San Miguel, Trinidad, Lila, Baclayon in Bohol.

This livelihood assistance is under the Seed Capital Fund (SCF) of the program which aims to provide additional financial support to the program participants for the augmentation of their livelihood income.

The Local Government Units (LGUs) initially organized and identified the potential SLP participants to receive the livelihood assistance while the DSWD SLP thru the field Project Development Officers (PDOs) conducts the final assessment and validation as to the qualified program participants who can avail of the assistance.

“In the validation, the PDOs make sure that the qualified participants for the livelihood assistance are members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), those who belong to the Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), and those who are poor but not Pantawid beneficiaries and not included in the Listahanan who would want to avail of the assistance as long as they passed the Means Test (an assessment tool used by the Listahanan to verify the qualified beneficiaries),” said Ma. Evelyn B. Macapobre, Regional Director of DSWD Central Visayas.

She explained that Listahanan is a DSWD information management system that identifies who and where the poor are in the community.

The seed capital fund is not automatically given to the participants.  The participants and their proposals shall undergo assessment and the associations are accredited by DSWD,” underscored Director Macapobre.

Moreover, Director Macapobre stressed that as implementer, the DSWD, like any other government agencies implementing a program, has to carry out the program following its guidelines in coordination with the local government units.

“We have been implementing the SLP since 2011.  And this livelihood assistance from DSWD has been implemented in the entire country,” emphasized Macapobre.

In the implementation of this program, the DSWD 7 welcomes those who would want to know about Sustainable Livelihood Program.  All they have to do is visit the nearest local social welfare office and look for DSWD’s PDO.