To remain true to the thrust of the Department to do things better, faster, smarter, and together, and for convergence to work, the Field Office Eight is hoping that the mechanisms necessary of getting collectively the DSWD’s three core protection programs in identified areas be in place by end of 2011.

The DSWD’s Convergence Strategy Program is a way of increasing the combined impact to reduce poverty beyond what each of the three projects can accomplish on its own. These programs are the PANTAWID PAMILYANG PILIPINO PROGRAM or PANTAWID PAMILYA, KAPIT-BISIG LABAN SA KAHIRPAN: COMPREHENSIVE AND INTEGRATED DELIVERY OF SOCIAL SERVICES: KAPANGYARIHAN AT KAUNLARAN SA BARANGAY or KALAHI-CIDSS, and the SELF-EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE – KAUNLARAN or SEA-K.

DSWD Field Office Eight Regional Director Leticia Diokno stated that though the said core programs carry distinct designs and strategies, they share a number of complementary features that can be harnessed for more effective and sustainable results. “They also have one thing in common – a clear focus on the poor and poverty reduction,” Diokno disclosed.

As of to date, the greater focus is on the two showcase areas of Tarangnan municipality of Samar and Mondragon in Northern Samar. The Convergence Strategy Program is initially being implemented in the ten Set One PANTAWID PAMILYA municipalities of Northern Samar, and 24 Set Two PANTAWID PAMILYA municipalities and one city of Samar.

In said municipalities, there has been an orientation on the convergence strategy conducted to heads of line agencies at the local level, barangay officials, non-government organizations, and to day care workers, rural health midwives as well. Of course, with the orientation followed the organization of the Municipal Convergence Committee.

Ofel Pagay, the Regional Program Coordinator on convergence strategy, bared that San Roque and Pambujan in Northern Samar, and Daram, Tagapul-an, Sto. Niño, Paranas, Motiong, Calbiga, Pinabacdao, Gandara, and Sebastian in Samar have already formed their respective Municipal Convergence Committee.

On the other hand, both Tarangnan and Mondragon are now into continuous monitoring on the administration of the Social Welfare Indicators (SWI) in Social Case Management. Pagay explained that the SWI is being used as a tool to assess the level of well – being of poor households and to monitor changes in their socio-economic condition after a package of services has been delivered.

She added that the tool will help the case workers determine whether the clients are in the survival, subsistence or self-sufficiency levels. Survival and subsistence levels are defined as a set of conditions and situations in a household that lacks inner and external resources and has a dysfunctional pattern of resource utilization and therefore renders the household unable to resolve the problem.

The self-sufficiency level, meanwhile, is a set of conditions that demonstrate the capacity of the household/client to function adequately and make full use of opportunities available in the community to improve his/her situation or resolve problems.

The convergence committees of the two municipalities will soon have a convergence planning workshop, with the involvement of national and local implementers of the three core programs, the non-government organizations/civil society organizations operating in the area, and other stakeholders.   The idea is to have a synchronized implementation of social preparation and mobilization activities, harmonized engagement of the local government units, coordinated capability building activities, among others.

The PANTAWID PAMILYA is a poverty reduction strategy that provides conditional cash grants to poor households with children zero to 14 years of age and with pregnant and lactating mothers, to build human capital through investments in health and education. On the other hand, the KALAHI-CIDSS aims to reduce poverty by empowering the poor to participate meaningfully in development, and making development initiatives responsive to the needs of citizens by making local governance processes and systems more participatory, transparent and accountable.

Meanwhile, the SEA-K is a community-based capability building and livelihood assistance program directed towards the poor and disadvantaged family/group that involves the provision of non-collateral and non-interest bearing capital assistance to the economically/entrepreneurial poor with a fund recovery feature.