DSWD-CAR bags 4 national awards

BAGUIO CITY  – The Cordillera office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-CAR) bagged four national awards in the recently-concluded 63^rd anniversary celebration of the agency held in Quezon City.

            Social Worker Edna Benitez was conferred the Best Center Head Award while Ivy Jane Velano and Rosewald Bumosao of the Sustainable Livelihood Program won the third place in the Frame It Up! Photo-Essay Contest.

          Jomel Anthony Gutierrez of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program took home two special awards, including the Most Responsive Photo and Most Responsive  Photo Set, in the same contest. Social Worker Judith Bacwaden was also among the top three performers nationwide under the Best Technical Staff – Professional Category.

            Leonardo C. Reynoso, DSWD-CAR regional director, was elated over the various recognitions received by his personnel during the agency’s anniversary celebration.

            “The recent recognitions that we received validate our unrelenting efforts in ensuring that we are able to provide the best social welfare and development services through the most efficient and effective human resource that we have in the region,” Reynoso stressed.

            Reynoso, who was cited as one of the agency’s loyalty awardees for having stayed in the agency for 30 years, pointed out the need to continuously motivate the employees to excel in their fields of expertise so that their clients will be satisfied with the services that they get, especially those from the remote communities of the region.

            He explained the awards given to the deserving agency officials and employees serve as the agency’s recognition to the personnel who are often not acknowledged for the services that they have rendered, especially those who are able to perform above par.

            Despite the numerous criticisms against the alleged absence of transparency in the utilization of the financial assistance being extended to poor families nationwide, Reynoso challenged his personnel to continuously provide widespread, faster and prolonged services no matter how difficult the situation they will encounter.

            For her part, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman  encouraged agency officials and personnel in the region to continue its commitment for converged and sustained efforts towards development.

            Soliman emphasized the agency’s perspective of a municipality as an area of operation where the municipality and the DSWD work as a team using the resources of the Department’s three core programs – the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) Project and Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP). The Secretary also stressed out that it is the team’s responsibility to make sure that other protective services in the community are provided for, especially for the vulnerable sectors.

Soliman added that aside from the challenges in the communities, the region should be able to ensure that the Local Social Welfare and Development Offices are functioning.

Reynoso assured the Secretary that the region has already plotted its strategies for Convergence. Reynoso said that through the convergent efforts of the DSWD-CAR workforce, its partner NGOs, CSOs, and NGAs, more families, communities and municipalities will be able to improve their levels of well-being, from survival to subsistence and eventually to self-sufficiency.

“Our targets for 2014 can be reached through our new financial management policies, enhanced operation guidelines and the expansion of our programs,” Reynoso shared. “The upcoming second round household assessment of Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), the expansion of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program as well as the scale-up of Kalahi-CIDSS Project to National Community-Driven Development Program (NCDDP), and the conduct of the Convergence’s Social Welfare Indicator (SWI) Assessment are among the top priorities of the region for 2014,” Reynoso added.

“Our workers in the field are not only community facilitators, but bridging leaders because we will closely work not only with LGUs, we will converge with other national government agencies. As a convergent team, we do not only look forward to implement our programs and services, but we also aim for a disaster resilient team so that we can provide services even in the midst of calamities,” Reynoso said.

The DSWD Convergence Strategy is composed of poverty reduction programs including the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, Kalahi-CIDSS and SLP. The strategy which is also called Tatlong Sulo sa Pagpuksa ng Kahirapan or Tatsulo is implemented in complementation and synergy with all other social protection programs of the Department. This is to ensure that the clients or beneficiaries receive maximum benefits from the protective services of Pantawid Pamilya, transformative services of Kalahi-CIDSS to promotive services of SLP. It aims to target the poor through the Listahanan, integrated case management and holistic community development approach in response to the Millennium Development Goal’s (MDG) call to halve poverty incidence in the country.