A Trade Fair is being conducted since yesterday, March 30, 2016 and will end today at the DSWD Field Office Eight Grounds in Tacloban. Seven women coming from four women associations organized under the agency’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), as well as four women from the DSWD’s Regional Haven (home for abused/exploited women at Pawing, Palo),have participated in the two – day event.
The women groups/associations are the Kauswagan Han Trinidad Self-Employment Assistance –Kaunlaran Association (SKA) of Barangay Trinidad, Calbayog City (tikog products), Malaga Women’s SEA-K Association of Barangay Malaga, Calbayog City (doormats), San Policarpo Food Processing SKA of Barangay San Policarpo, Calbayog City (home-baked goodies and peanut butter), and the Violence Against Women and Children SEA-K Association of Ormoc City (decors made of recycled plastic).
These women were able to avail of seed capital, with no collateral and interest loan, initially at Php10, 000.00 under the program’s Level 1 implementation. Under Level II, they were extended Php20,000.00.
Said SLP Regional Program Coordinator, Hermanito Mangalao, the beauty of the program is that there is a forced savings scheme and that each member of the association is responsible for each other’s obligation. The loan is released in the name of the association but members individually venture into varied livelihood projects.
In a media interview, Mangalao disclosed that over Php 1.4 B were released last year to various groups and individuals, not solely for women but also to victims of typhoons Yolanda and Ruby, Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries and those individuals listed in the DSWD’s database of poor households dubbed as the Listahanan. Also covered by the assistance were those in conflict – affected areas and in that of the Bottoms Up Budgeting (BUB) approach.
The SLP regional coordinator further reported that for this year, the priority target are the more than 32, 000 Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries who are yet in the survival stage of existence. However, Mangalao said, since there are limited funds, the assistance is prioritized yearly.
The idea is to uplift their economic status – from a state of helplessness to self-sufficiency. In other words, these Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries while having cash grants for education and health of the children, will eventually have a sustainable livelihood.
Gypsy Rose Maturan (in photo), both a Pantawid Pamilya and SLP beneficiary of Barangay Baybay in Carigara, Leyte, expressed her thanks to the DSWD for what the two major programs have helped change the lives of their family.
In the trade fair, she willingly submitted for a television interview and told it all that before becoming a recipient of Pantawid Pamilya, their family had been a regular patron of lending buisnesses.
Two years after being a part of Pantawid Pamilya, on October of 2013, her family was granted capital assistance by the DSWD for the production of delicacies of which her town is famous for.. # @dswdserves @dinkysunflower @dswdspeaks ‪#‎dswdspeaks ‪#‎dinkysunflower‪#‎dswdserves