DSWD cites tedious accreditation process for NGOs

MANILA, Philippines -The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) adopts a tedious and stringent process for the accreditation of non-government organizations (NGOs) as partners in community development.

Roy Calfoforo, DSWD focal person in charge of programs and partnerships with NGOs, said their accreditation process, while tedious, effectively weeds out fake and dubious NGOs.

Calfoforo said that the DSWD has a Standards Bureau that is effective in identifying NGOs that engage in honest-to-goodness social development work in poor communities in urban and rural areas.

“We really have rigid requirements and a tedious accreditation process,” Calfoforo said.

NGOs applying for DSWD accreditation are subjected to “social investigation” during which communities they claim to work with are questioned on their past activities and projects.

The Standards Bureau also checks if the applying NGOs, called civil society organizations (CSOs) by the DSWD, have existing offices. Their officers are also interviewed on past community involvements.

NGOs are now being cast in a bad light amid allegations that businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles used spurious NGOs to get billions in lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and diverted them to ghost projects.

Calfoforo said they also require a minimum of three years that a group should be in operation with Securities and Exchange Commission registration.

“So we really doubt if any PDAF issued to DSWD accredited CSOs went to fake NGOs or fake projects,” Calfoforo said.

DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman also expressed confidence that no DSWD-accredited CSOs were involved in ghost projects or were connected to Napoles.

Soliman recently called for stronger partnerships with their CSOs which they have tapped to monitor and implement its programs and services, including its flagship Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

The DSWD said CSOs play an important role in ensuring transparent and effective implementation of its programs and services.

“We would like to come up with plans to further strengthen existing levels of partnership with our CSOs,” Soliman said.

Soliman added the CSOs and volunteer partners serve as the “third eye” of the DSWD.

The DSWD said there are presently 421 CSOs nationwide who are helping the agency in successfully implementing the 4Ps and 131 CSOs  in the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).

In 4Ps, CSOs are engaged in facilitating family development sessions , family development plus, modified conditional cash transfer, validation of 4Ps beneficiaries, trainors’ training, monitoring and collecting feedback.

In SLP, CSOs and private sector partners are currently being expanded and institutionalized for job generation.

Labor requirements for public-private partnership projects will also be included in the list of job opportunities for 4Ps beneficiaries.

Some of the partner-CSOs include: Philippine Business for Social Progress, Association of Foundations, chambers of commerce, League of Corporate Foundations  and Rotary clubs.

The DSWD recently organized a three-day Visayas Cluster Consultation with CSOs in Cebu City to discuss the status of current engagements of the CSOs in their different programs.

The activity also sought to generate recommendations from the CSOs in the operations of DSWD core poverty programs, including policy-making, implementation, capacity building and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

It was attended by some 110 participants from Regions VI, VII and VIII.