DSWD’s PWDs Center Signs MOA with LGU Ubay

The Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Area Vocational Rehabilitation Center (AVRC II) recently inked a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Local Government of Ubay, Bohol.

On behalf of the DSWD-7 Regional Director Mercedita Jabagat, AVRC II Center Head, Herminia Cabahug signed the MOA together with Mayor Galicano Atup to seal the partnership in a brief ceremony held at Ubay Municipal Hall.

Under the agreement, DSWD-AVRC II will accept persons with disabilities (PWDs) from LGU Ubay for vocational training. It will also provide social adjustment service, psychological guidance and assessment, counselling, orientation and mobility training, daily living skills development, job placement services and other capability building activities that will help the PWDs become productive and economically independent.

For its part, LGU Ubay will assist the PWDs in complying the required documents and submit it to DSWD together with the social case study report prepared by the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO).

“Mohangyo ko ninyo nga unta ato gyud tabangan ang atong mga kaparyentehan, silingan, ug kahigalaan nga adunay sitwasyon sama sa atong gihisgutan karon, ato silang agdahon kay kung magpabilin sila nga naa sa kangitngit ug dili nato sila tandugon, molabay ra sila dinhi sa kalibutan nga wala gyud sila makabati ug kalipay (I encourage all of you to help our relatives, neighbors and friends who are in the same situation that we are talking now, we should invite them because if they will remain in the dark and if we will just ignore them, they will just come to pass through this world without experiencing happiness),” conveyedMayor Atup during his welcome message.

Atup also assured that LGU Ubay will provide financial assistance to the identified PWDs while they are on-training in AVRC II. The financial assistance covers the basic needs of the trainee like transportation, food and toiletries.

The Local Government of Ubay also considers PWDs to avail of the employment opportunities it will offer relative to the project on eco-tourism destination in their town that will be launched soon.

“LGU Ubay is the first local government in the region that has entered into an agreement with DSWD and we encourage other LGUs to do the same,” Cabahug said.

DSWD encourages the LGU to identify PWDs from the different barangays of the municipality preferably those who belong to families identified as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries or identified poor by the Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR).

As of now, AVRC II has produced hundreds of PWD graduates from all over Visayas region.

Since its establishment in 1974, AVRC II has been at the forefront in providing human resource development to PWDs through various skills enhancement program which paved the way for their integration to the community.

Courses included in the vocational training are Therapeutic Massage, Computer Technology, Basic Cosmetology, Consumer Electronics, Electric Motor Repair, Commercial Arts and Crafts, Commercial Cooking, House Keeping, Furniture and Cabinet Making and Dress and Apparel Technology.

Photo above: Mayor Galicano Atup gives his welcome message during the MOA signing with DSWD-7 (Image Credit: DSWD 7)