More Mt Prov folks get DSWD livelihood funds

BONTOC, Mountain Province- - More  PantawidPamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries  in the province are getting  assistance  from the Sustainable Livelihood Program   of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Jessie Chilem of the Social Welfare and Development team office here  said aside from  the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program which is benefiting 5,862 families in the province, the DSWD is also giving financial assistance for livelihood projects to help alleviate the living condition of these beneficiaries to become self-sufficient.

The sustainable livelihood program is part of DSWD’s convergence program for poverty reduction which provides entrepreneurial capacity building for all  4Ps beneficiaries. 

It  offers  two forms of assistance,  micro-enterprise: self-employment assistance-kaunlaran (SEA-K) and employment facilitation.

The SEA-K is a community-based credit assistance program utilizing people’s organization that specifically targets the low-income communities or barangays in depressed municipalities/cities. It enables  the 4Ps beneficiaries to establish and manage their own micro-enterprises through an entrepreneurial skills training program that include provision of non-collateral and interest free loan as seed capital.

 The beneficiaries organized themselves first into associations under the   SEA-K  program, a requirement for them to avail of the financial assistance. Under this livelihood program, beneficiaries are allowed to get loans ranging from P5,000.00 to P10,000.00 payable in two years  for their livelihood projects.

According to Chilem, there are 77 organized associations  with a total of 1,046 members and  with a  total loaned amount of P9,555,500.00.

He disclosed that DSWD has also approved  nine 8  associations  and whose checks are ready for release. These beneficiaries are  Talubin Pantawid SKA of Bontoc with 28 members with a total loan amount of P280,000.00, Tocucan Pantawid SKA of Bontoc with 27 members with a total loan of P270,000.00 ; Belwang Pantawid SKG in Sadanga with 10 members with a total loan amount of P 71,000.00.

 In barangay MonamonNorte in Bauko, there are four  associations namely  Tamog-o Pantawid SKA with 30 members with a total loan of P300,000.00, PitpitanPantawid SKA with 25 members with total loan of P250,000.00, PangaoPantawid SKA with 29 members with total loan of P290,000.00, and BansaPantawid SKA with 28 members with a total loan of P280,000.00.

He said most of these beneficiaries will invest the money in organic gardening. -- Juliet Saley