Pantawid Pamilya engages participation of civil society

Sunday 27th of March 2011

CEBU, Mar 27 (PIA) – Seventy-seven national and local non-government organizations and Civil Society Organizations signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Department of Social Welfare and Development Central Visayas (DSWD) to actively participate in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

The partnership defines the specific roles and functions of the civil society organizations and DSWD in monitoring and implementation of the poverty reduction programs.

This is in line with the President’s directive to encourage public-private partnership in Good Governance and Poverty Reduction.

For DSWD in particular, Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is a system for cooperation between the two parties specifically in the delivery of basic social services to the poor; implementing development projects of the Government and instituting transparency and accountability mechanisms to fight corruption.

This may be done in any of these four ways: "Bantay," or projects and activities geared towards fighting corruption; "Gabay," a mechanism for extending technical assistance; "Kaagapay," or anti poverty projects and activities; or "Tulay," which refers to facilitating action, feedback and monitoring.

DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman in coordination with DSWD Field Offices has completed the conduct of the Convergence Road show where various volunteer groups nationwide were oriented on the convergence of the three poverty-reduction programs of the department.

The DSWD said NGOs and CSOs are now welcome to actively participate in the Pantawid Pamilya through adoption of areas covered by the program.

Partner CSOs may assess every step of the program in order to ensure good governance and transparency in all levels. The DSWD facilitates training workshop and transfer of technology to CSO members.

Volunteer organizations may be involved in any of the following ways; coordinate with the leaders of Citizens’ Organizations for the participation of their volunteers in the implementation of the program.

They can also participate in Community Assemblies as part of the beneficiary identification process and on-the-ground audit of the Compliance Verification System.

The volunteers may also assist in the Beneficiary Updating System, implementation of the Grievance Redress System and in the enhancement and implementation of the Family Development Session modules.

"To ensure its success, the Pantawid Pamilya must be democratically implemented with active participation of civil society and the grassroots urban and rural communities", Sec. Soliman said.

The Pantawid Pamilya helps the poorest families meet immediate needs and at the same time ensuring that young people have better opportunities for advancement.

It helps families to gain leverage by giving them the capacity to access basic social services to be able to help themselves break free from the inter-generational cycle of poverty. (PIA-7/Minerva BC Newman & DSWD-7/Azenath L. Formoso, IO-III)