ABOUT 600 beneficiaries from various municipalities in Davao Oriental received cash assistance worth P15,000 from the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Davao Region (DSWD-Davao) and the ACT-CIS Partylist on Thursday, February 22, 2024.
Atty. Vanessa Goc-ong, regional director of DSWD-Davao, said in a radio interview on Radyo Pilipinas (RP1), that about 667 beneficiaries received the cash assistance during the Sustainable Livelihood Program Pay-out.
She added that this is the first and biggest pay-out of SLP in the entire region which focuses on choosing livelihood business ventures, such as sari-sari stores, piggery, fisheries, and others.
“Unlike AICS, unlike disaster, naa gyud sila’y gipili nga business venture nga duol sa ilang dughan nga ilang ma-sustain (Unlike AICS, unlike disaster, they [beneficiaries] choose a business venture that is close to their heart and something that they can sustain),” she said.
Before they could start their business venture, the beneficiaries had to undergo financial training conducted by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) so that they would have the capacity to sustain the business.
According to the official, the beneficiaries came from the first district municipalities of Davao Oriental namely, Boston, Cateel, Banganga, Caraga, Tarragona, and Manay, of which 60 percent are Pantawid family program (4Ps) beneficiaries, and 40 percent came from the poorest of the poor.
Meanwhile, the agency is still coordinating with the various stakeholders, one of which is the ACT-CIS partylist, to further strengthen the Sustainable Livelihood Program in the entire region.
“There are partners that will help support, and complement the needs of our beneficiaries,” she said.
The SLP is a community-based initiative that offers capacity-building to raise the socioeconomic standing of program beneficiaries. Serving Pantawid Pamilya clients, the program seeks to maintain and grow the socioeconomic gains made during the five-year intervention as part of the Convergence Strategy of the department. RGP