DSWD supports peace-building efforts through livelihoods

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 31): DSWD supports peace-building efforts through livelihoods
 
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) said Friday that it recently conducted a Program Review and Evaluation Workshop for the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) project of the national government.

According to DSWD Secretary Corazon J. Soliman, PAMANA is the Philippine government’s program and framework for peace and development.

“It focuses on providing development interventions in hard-to-reach, and conflict-affected communities,” Soliman explained.

Under the PAMANA project, the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) is tasked to implement the livelihood component of PAMANA’s development interventions.

It aim is to increase people’s participation in identifying community development projects that will lead to economic empowerment.

Based on DSWD’s record, in 2013, the PAMANA-SLP program has identified 470 barangays located in 19 municipalities in eight provinces and in one chartered city in Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, SoCCSKSarGen and the CARAGA Region.

Each of these 470 barangays was granted with P300,000 pesos each for their community identified livelihood projects that hopes to benefit some 962,568 individuals.

For this year each barangay will be again granted with P300,000 pesos as additional assistance and continuous support for their existing livelihood projects that benefits the indigents in the barangay.

According to Roy Serdana, Regional Project Coordinator of SLP CARAGA, the fund will definitely help jumpstart the rebuilding of the livelihoods of the people like those recently affected by tropical depression ‘Agaton’.

Under also the said project, the people in the barangay will directly benefit since the livelihood projects are really intended for their use.

Mary Grace Yap, Social Welfare Assistant and MIAC member from Bagumbayan, Sultan Kudarat, cited that they had identified solar dryers as the equipment commonly needed for their livelihood projects.

Yap explained that the solar dryers had benefited the farmers there since the main products of the said farmers there were rice and corn.

She added that for those barangays who already have solar dryers had opted to propose construction of post-harvest facilities such as warehouses to store palay that will serve as protective area during the rainy season.

Leonardito Plaza, Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator of Sta. Josefa, Agusan Del Sur, shared that some projects include feed mill and swine fattening facilities which were all use

“These projects had helped the people to save up on feeds and in paying rent for private owners’ solar dryers. The community can share in the use of these facilities and thus help them in saving money,” Plaza added.

Among those who attended the program review and workshop held last Jan. 23-25 were representatives from the DSWD-Sustainable Livelihood Program National and Regional Project Management Offices, OPAPP officials and Regional Managers, and Multi-Inter Agency Councils of the concerned local government units.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=611379