The Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) has capacitated its beneficiaries with leadership and business management skills, aside from helping improve their economic status.
“Hindi sila pinanganak na may business skills. These are women turned entrepreneurs so kailangan natin bigyan sila ng capacity to teach them how to manage their business and how to grow their businesses so yan ang most important component ng sustainable livelihood program (They were not born with business skills. These are women turned entrepreneurs that is why, we need to capacitate them on how to manage their business and how to grow their business which is the most important component of the sustainable livelihood program),” Mary Ann Buclao, promotive services division chief of the DSWD-Cordillera Administrative Region, said during the “Kapihan” here on Thursday.
She said the SLP is an augmentation assistance provided by the DSWD to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries, as well as non-4Ps who belong to the indigent sector. It aims to improve their lives through livelihood activities and capacity building.
Marcelina Ciano, president of the Happy Hollow farmers’ association in Baguio, said the SLP not just gives additional income to groups but also to individual members.
She cited the PHP450,000 SLP grant to their poultry and agricultural venture in 2023, which has now grown to PHP1.6 million.
She added they recently divided part of the income, and the 40 members each received PHP11,000 each as an initial share.
“We plan to increase the number of heads from the current 500 so that we reap more benefits. We also plan to venture in other activities such as baking making use of some of the eggs we produce as an additional economic venture,” Ciano said in Filipino.
“Let us continue working with each other, be industrious and enjoy working because our labor will be compensated,” she exhorted the members of their group.
The SLP is a program of the DSWD that was launched in 2011. It has continually evolved to address the needs of vulnerable sectors through comprehensive capacity building, community-based approaches and innovative livelihood interventions.
As a component of the convergence strategy of DSWD, the SLP prioritizes beneficiaries of the 4Ps, providing a pathway for program participants to sustain and expand their socio-economic gains beyond the 4Ps intervention.
Hedeliza Fernandez, SLP regional program coordinator, said that among the economic ventures of the beneficiaries are handicraft making, agricultural activity, farm supply, gasoline vending, poultry and hog raising.
She said that since 2023, the program duration has been increased from two years to five years.
“Likened to a growing seed, the SLP associations start from planting (punla) where they are provided the initial capital. They then level up for the usbong (bud) where they are monitored of their progress, they grow (sibol), then they expand (yabong) and they reap or harvest (ani). Once they are ready, they are transferred to the local government unit that will further assist them to grow more and expand,” she said.
The largest total amount of intervention given under the program is PHP900,000.
Record shows that since the program started, about 80,000 households have economically benefited with about 80 percent success rate recorded.
Aside from the SLP associations, there are also 13,000 individual beneficiaries receiving PHP15,000 livelihood grant each. (PNA)
