For the first quarter of this year, livelihood associations of the DSWD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) have reached their sales from their micro-enterprises to some Php 103,958.00, from three trade fairs organized by the agency.

The DSWD – assisted Samahan ng Kababaihan SEA-K (Self-Employment Assistance – Kaunlaran) Association of Barangay Cabay in Balangkayan, Eastern Samar, the Buruligay SEA-K Association `of Barangay Looc in Allen, Northern Samar, the VAWC – SKA (Violence Against Women and Children – Self – Employment Assistance Kaunlaran Association) of Ormoc City, and the Cabintan Women SKA and Lao SKA, also in Ormoc, and that of Talolora in Eastern Samar, Calbiga in Samar, and Silago in Southern Leyte were active participants to the series of events.

Such trade fairs were held to commemorate the DSWD’s 62^nd anniversary on February 4 to 6, the Women’s Month this March, and when the agency hosted the National Development Management Conference on January 10 to 12 at the Leyte Oriental Hotel in Baras, Palo, reported Regional Project Development Officer Hermanito Mangalao.

Mangalao bared that the products varied, like handicraft from paper, banig, bamboo, and recycled materials, pili products, vegetables, ginger tea, cassava chips, and native delicacies like “suman latik,” “binagol,” “biribid,” “moron,” and “sagmani.”

Meanwhile, DSWD Field Office Eight Director Remia Tapispisan revealed that the Department has been providing seed capital with no collateral and interest, as well as capability building activities, for the purpose of enhancing the socio-economic skills of poor families. Dubbed as the Self-Employment Assistance – Kaunlaran (SEA-K) Program, its goal is geared towards establishing and managing sustainable community-based organizations for entrepreneurial development.

She further explained that with the existence of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program ( a conditional cash transfer program that aims to address the education, health and nutrition of zero to 14 year – old children, as well as lactating mothers), the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) came into being. “Now, the SEA-K or the Micro-Enterprise track is just one of the two components of the SLP, while the other one is the Employment Facilitation track, “the Director said.

The SLP was developed as an exit strategy for Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries, specifically, to be economically prepared after they graduate from the five-year program, such that they will be elevated to a state of self-sufficiency.