Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Juliano Soliman Tuesday, June 19, underlined in her speech that Region Eight is the most challenged region. Speaking before some 85 implementers of the DSWD’s Convergence Strategy Program at Ciriaco Hotel in Calbayog City, the DSWD official said that she understands the situation of the region, as many are poor, and the location and accessibility are difficult.

The Secretary had the opportunity to meet the Municipal Action Teams for the convergence program, of the Set one and Set two areas of the PANTAWID PAMILYANG PILIPINO PROGRAM (PANTAWID PAMILYA), when she was invited to be with the United States Ambassador to the Philippines, Harry Thomas, Jr., for a project visit of two schoolbuildings, with ongoing construction, under the KALAHI-CIDSS program, in the nearby town of Sta. Margarita in the afternoon of same day.

“It’s the convergence of three poverty reduction programs that should be given importance,” said the Secretary, referring to the PANTAWID PAMILYA (a conditional cash transfer scheme), KAPIT-BISIG LABAN SA KAHIRAPAN: COMPREHENSIVE AND INTEGRATED DELIVERY OF SOCIAL SERVICES: KAUNLARAN AT KAPANGYARIHAN SA BARANGAY (a community driven development strategy), and SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD PROGRAM.

“Convergence is looking at the municipality as a whole, and looking at what we can do for the families. Then we ask – is DEVELOPMENT really happening in the communities? “Secretary Dinky pointed out. 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.

“We are moving in the direction as an agency with a vision of empowering families for an improved quality of life, and not merely as an agency with different programs, “the visiting official said. She, then, stated that by seeing to it that children of poorest families have at least finished elementary level and are healthy, the Department will help meet two of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015 – “eradicating extreme poverty and hunger,” and “achieving universal primary education.”

To date, there are some 220,000 households, with a maximum of three children who are aged fourteen years old and below, who are benefiting from the PANTAWID PAMILYA in the region. The DSWD has extended a total of Php 695,208,055.00 in cash grants for education as well as health and nutrition since 2009.

Said DSWD Field Office Eight Director Leticia Diokno, the beneficiaries of set one and set two PANTAWID PAMILYA areas will be the first to graduate from the five-year program next year. Hence, she said, “we are pursuing hard that convergence of the three major anti-poverty reduction programs will be in place, especially in the ten municipalities of Northern Samar (under set one) and in the 24 towns and one city of Samar (under set two).

In her presentation, the regional chief bared that the the said three programs have been converged in 21 municipalities of set one and set two areas, out of the total 34 municipalities and one city covered by said program.

She added that based on the results of the August to October 2011 Social Welfare Indicator (SWI) administration in the set one areas, 8,808 are still on the survival level, 6,712, subsistence; and self-sufficiency level – 32. For the set two areas, 25,457 are at the survival stage; 14,720, subsistence; and self-sufficiency, 10.

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. 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.