Manila: The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to partner with various government agencies to help Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries gain access to other government programs, an agency official said on Tuesday.

According to Philippines News Agency, Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao emphasized the importance of a collaborative approach to poverty alleviation in a recent news release. She stated, “Poverty alleviation is not the sole responsibility of one government agency, it must be a whole-of-nation approach. With this, the 4Ps continues its partnership with other government agencies to help its grantees avail of programs and services that are not within the mandate of the DSWD.”

One of the key partnerships is with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), which has supported 275,881 monitored children through the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST). This initiative provides 4Ps households with opportunities for their children to pursue college education. Dumlao noted, “For 4Ps children-beneficiaries, finishing a college degree provides an opportunity for them to have better employment that will help improve their lives and prevent them from sliding back to poverty.”

Additionally, the 4Ps has collaborated with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to offer skills training to 5,152 beneficiaries. This is facilitated through the DSWD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP). The program’s partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) has also been fruitful, resulting in the hiring of 3,685 teachers who were former grantees.

Moreover, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has provided livelihood assistance to 1,320 4Ps beneficiaries, while the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has delivered “Science, Technology, and Innovation interventions” to 39,121 grantees.

The agricultural sector has not been left behind, with 152,944 beneficiaries receiving assistance from the Department of Agriculture (DA) and 3,246 grantees being endorsed to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for additional support.

Looking ahead to 2024, Dumlao announced that the DSWD 4Ps National Program Management Office (NPMO) has teamed up with the Social Security System (SSS) to implement the AlkanSSSya Program, aimed at providing grantees with access to low-cost social insurance.

The 4Ps, launched in 2008 and institutionalized by Republic Act (RA) 11310 in 2019, serves as the national poverty reduction strategy and human capital investment program. It offers conditional cash transfers to impoverished households for up to seven years, with the goal of improving children’s health, nutrition, and education.