Sustainable Livelihood Program RAFI, Venray Construction to help social welfare dep’t

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region VII has sealed a partnership with Venray Construction and Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) Micro-Finance through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the agency’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).

DSWD-7 Regional Director Mercedita P. Jabagat said the MOA means having new strategic partners in implementing the agency’s anti-poverty projects and programs.

Jabagat signed the MOA along with the representatives from the two organizations in a brief ceremony at the DSWD Field Office in Cebu City.

DSWD-7 information officer Kerwin Macopia said that Venray Construction aims to provide employment and necessary trainings to the DSWD program beneficiaries to enhance the skills and further employment placements.

The partnership with Venray was formed as an output to the Contractors’ Forum conducted last May 18, he added.

Macopia said that the previous workers of the “Trabahong Lansangan Program”, a partnership program between the DSWD and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), will be given priority as well as the Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries with driving experiences for their construction and heavy equipment.

RAFI Micro-Finance, on the other hand, will provide credit assistance with only 3 percent interest rate per month to the program beneficiaries so that they could be able to sustain their livelihood and further engage them in micro-enterprise, Macopia said.

Prior to accessing the seed fund or any services from partners, Macopia stressed that DSWD will also be conducting a series of sessions on Community Driven Enterprise Development (CDED).

CDED is a framework that integrates business principles and techniques necessary for the implementation of livelihood or enterprise projects with community participatory processes that enable the poor from the target communities to prepare their business plans.

Along with the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program and the Kapit-bisig Laban sa Kahirapan- Community Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS), the SLP is part of the Convergence Strategy for poverty reduction of the DSWD, it is a community-based capacity-building program aimed at improving the socio-economic status of its participants.  (FREEMAN)