More self-employment assistance groups organized in 4Ps areas

By Juliet B. Saley

Monday 3rd of September 2012

BONTOC, Mt. Province, Sept. 3 (PIA)- - Two hundred eight beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) or the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program are recipients of the sustainable livelihood program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the province.

The sustainable livelihood program is part of DSWD’s convergence program for poverty reduction.

It is a program which provides entrepreneurial capacity building for all Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries through Self-Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K)

According to Lora Mae Solang of the Social Welfare and Development (SWAD) Team office here, there are already 14 organized SEA-K groups/associations composed of 205 4Ps beneficiaries and three individuals who are beneficiaries of the SEA-K program.

Solang identified the beneficiaries as the Busy Bees SEA-K Association (SKA) and Taggam SKA of Poblacion, Matagoan SKA of Bacarri and Butigue Women’s Association of Butigue, all in the municipality of Paracelis; Butac SKA of Butac, Alunogan SKA of Alunogan, Kapamilya SKA of Poblacion, Sta. Isabel and Banao, Katorongan SKA and Hael SEA-K Group (SKG) of Sta. Isabel, all in Natonin; Kutataw SKA of Poblacion, Sanggiran SKA of Demang, and Innanay SKG of Anabel in Sadanga; Daoyasan SKG of Gueday and Agila SKG of Agawa in Besao.

Individual beneficiaries include Susana Chano of Butigue in Paracelis, Mary Ann Wandagan and Monalisa Tid-ang of Poblacion in Natonin.

Solang said the recipients invested their loaned capital in hog raising, sari-sari store, and buy and sell businesses, food processing, and gardening.

The 4Ps is a government poverty reduction strategy which provides conditional cash grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition and education particularly of children aged 14 and below.

The program benefited more than 5,000 poor families in the province.

On the other hand, 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.

SEA-K will enable the Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries to establish and manage their own micro-enterprises through an entrepreneurial skills training program that includes the provision of non-collateral and interest-free loan as seed capital. (JDP/JBS-PIA CAR, Mt. Province)