(File photo)
MANILA – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Wednesday started close coordination with the local government units (LGUs) in the National Capital Region (NCR) to create partnership in the implementation of the provision of livelihood grants under its Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).
The participation of the Metro Manila LGUs is being sought by DSWD organizers because of its prime importance in the initial filtration of the list of interested and qualified participants of the program from their respective jurisdictions, according to the agency.
Once finalized, this partnership will provide an opportunity for individuals who want to avail of livelihood assistance to directly submit their application documents to their LGU.
However, the Department emphasized that its NCR Field Office will conduct further validation and livelihood assessment among the list endorsed by the LGUs.
Likewise, the DSWD noted that potential SLP participants are required to go through a series of orientation and skills training as part of the program’s existing selection process.
The initiative to partner with LGUs in Metro Manila is being undertaken to bring the livelihood program closer to the constituents of every locality and to avoid the incident that transpired at the NCR Field Office on Jan. 13, where some 2,000 individuals lined up in hopes of a possible payout.
Meanwhile, the Department clarified that the incident in the Field Office-NCR was merely due to the proliferation of “fake news,” as then DSWD OIC Eduardo Punay immediately reminded the public to be more discerning of the information coming from unverified sources.
Punay advised further that interested persons should refer, inquire and send concerns only to DSWD's official Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/dswdserves or @dswdserves.
Availing of livelihood assistance
The Department explained that the SLP is composed of two tracks including the Micro-enterprise Development (MD) Track which is designed for those who want to start a sustainable micro-enterprise and the Employment Facilitation (EF) Track which assists participants in landing jobs that are appropriate to their skills and competencies.
Based on the Department’s Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 22 series of 2019, each household can enroll a maximum of two members pursuing two different tracks. A participant of the MD Track must be at least 16 years old with written legal consent from the parents or the legal guardian while a participant in EF Track must be at least 18 years old upon employment.
Under the memorandum circular, participants who passed the selection process and attended the required SLP orientation and skills training are eligible to receive livelihood assistance grants.
For MD Track, participants may receive a maximum of PHP15,000 capital seed fund while EF Track participants may be provided with an Employment Assistance Fund of not more than PHP5,000 or a Skills Training Fund of not more than PHP15,000.
The SLP is a capability-building program for poor, vulnerable and marginalized households and communities to improve their socio-economic conditions through accessing and acquiring necessary assets to engage in and maintain a sustainable livelihood. (PNA)
