TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is eyeing to elevate the level of well-being of more than 44,000 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries in Northern Samar province in the next seven years.
DSWD 8 (Eastern Visayas) information officer Abelardo Bibat said in a phone interview Friday the DSWD and the provincial government have signed a memorandum of understanding on June 22 on the implementation of the “Kilos-Unlad” social case management strategy implementation of the 4Ps.
Bibat said the partnership is a seven-year case management strategy that aims to guide 4Ps beneficiaries to achieve an improved level of well-being towards graduating from poverty.
The strategy, he said, seeks to achieve economic, physical, psychological, and emotional readiness and improvement.
“This involves intensive case management from the time of their registration in the program. We have done a needs-based assessment and provided them access to training and livelihood opportunities with the help of the local government, partner agencies, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders. They also attended family development sessions,” Bibat added.
For this year alone, the DSWD is targeting to see 8,110 4Ps household-beneficiaries achieve self-reliance. A total of 44,604 poor families are listed as 4Ps recipients in the province.
“We want to see families supporting their own needs, with stable income, have access to all services, and can stand on their own even without financial support from 4Ps,” he said.
Led by the DSWD, the 4Ps is a poverty reduction strategy of the national government. Household beneficiaries are entitled to receive cash subsidies provided they meet the conditions on health, nutrition, and education.
The conditional cash transfer is given under the following scheme: PHP300 per month for a child in kindergarten and elementary school for a maximum of 10 months per year; PHP500 per month for 10 months for a child enrolled in junior high school; PHP700 per month for 10 months for every child enrolled in senior high school and a health and nutrition grant of PHP750 per month for 12 months per year.
The government can only provide for the needs of a maximum of three children for each family
Source: Philippines News Agency
