MALASIQUI, Pangasinan – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has allocated PHP86.8 million for the implementation of the Risk Resiliency Program (RRP) in Ilocos Region from February to June this year.
DSWD Ilocos Disaster Response Management Division chief Maricel Caleja, in a phone interview on Monday, said some 9,978 families from 20 local government units (LGUs) with high poverty incidence are targeted to benefit from the cash-for-work program and cash-for-training program.
She said beneficiaries will earn PHP435 per day for 20 days, 16 days of which will be spent working while four will be allotted for skills training.
The beneficiaries will come from the towns of Adams, Badoc, Dumalneg, Nueva Era, and Pagudpud in Ilocos Norte; Burgos, Cervantes, Quirino, Sugpon, and Suyo in Ilocos Sur; San Carlos City, Urbiztondo, Mabini, Burgos and Agno in Pangasinan; and Aringay, Bagulin, Caba, San Gabriel and Santol towns La Union.
Caleja said the beneficiaries were chosen based on the climate outlook study and were identified by local government officials based on the third assessment of the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), or the program known as Listahanan 3, which means list in Filipino, aimed to identify poor households nationwide.
“Some of them are farmers and fisherfolk,” she said.
“Climate change mitigation recommendation is on drought. The focus of the program is towards mitigation of El Niño,” she added.
In recent years, RRP was focused only on food security and disaster risk reduction but starting this year, DSWD has included Project LAWA or the Local Adaptation to Water Access.
Caleja said they had meetings with officials of the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources for technical assistance and the cash-for-training part of the program.
“Even after the implementation, at least they have the knowledge and skills on how they could maintain and sustain the knowledge they acquired from different agencies,” she added. (PNA)
