Convergence Strategy

Since 2012, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has remained focused
with its objective of fulfilling the millennium development goal to halve poverty incidence by
2015. As the leader in the social welfare and development sector, the Department currently
implements three major social protection programs which are the key poverty reduction
projects targeting the poor municipalities and poor households in the country with the
Convergence Strategy.

The Convergence Strategy complements programs which aim to help specific sectors, such as
poor individuals, families, households, and communities.  It involves pooling of expertise and
resources, and the channeling of efforts in pursuit of a commonly agreed goal or objective.   It
calls for the synchronization, complementation, and coordination of all government
interventions (national and local) and the private sector in one geographical area to ensure that
reforms in terms of poverty alleviation and social protection, among others, are achieved.

The DSWD’s Convergence Strategy addresses poverty through the harmonized implementation
of   three of its major programs, namely: Kapit-bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and
Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS), the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program
(Pantawid Pamilya), and the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP)

KALAHI-CIDSS, which is being implemented in other regions, provides funding for community-
driven infrastructure projects such as school buildings, health centers, farm-to-market roads,
foot bridges, and water systems, among others

Pantawid Pamilya gives cash grants to poor families to ensure their education, health and
nutritional needs. As of September 2013, Pantawid Pamilya has 258,486 household-
beneficiaries from 14 cities and 116 municipalities in seven provinces of Region III. The FO has
reached up to 99.33 percent out of its 3,102 target barangays for 2013. The program has
likewise identified 51,369 potential households for Set 7. The RPMO paid the total amount of
P930,922,100 for Period I, II and III as of the month of September 2013.

Sustainable Livelihood Program extends capital assistance and capability building to

beneficiaries to start their own income generating projects. As part of the Convergence
Strategy, Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries who are graduating from the program may avail of the
SLP.

Some 6,826 beneficiaries, who were enrolled in Pantawid Pamilya in 2008, are residents of
Nueva Ecija and under the Convergence Strategy graduated in August 2013. There were 6,916
households who benefited from the Microenterprise Development Track I and 6,916 3,458
households who benefited from the Employment Facilitation Track II.
To uphold the principles of transparency and accountability, the DSWD has been actively
engaging various civil society organizations (CSOs), non-government organizations (NGOs),
people’s organizations and volunteer groups in the implementation and monitoring of its core
programs, such as Pantawid Pamilya, Kalahi-CIDSS, SLP, centers and institutions and other
programs.

To enhance the participation of CSOs and volunteer groups, DSWD adopted four mechanisms of
engagement, which are ‘bantay’, (watchdog) to help the DSWD in the conduct of anti-
corruption campaigns and activities; ‘gabay’ (guide) is the provision of technical assistance
especially during the trainings of the beneficiaries;  ‘tulay’ (bridge),  is the implementation of
feedback and monitoring mechanisms; and ‘kaagapay’ (helpmate or partner)  focuses on
disaster risk management, and  anti-poverty projects and activities.

PANTAWID PAMILYANG PILIPINO PROGRAM

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is a poverty reduction strategy patterned after the
successful Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program in Brazil, Latin America and Africa. It gives
cash subsidies to the poorest household particularly with children 0-14 years old to help them
improve their health, nutrition and education.
Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) is a provision of cash grants to eligible poor families for as long
as they meet certain agreed conditions and it aims to primarily to alleviate poverty in the short-
run, while raising the human capital of poor children and, therefore, their future income.
In 2007, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program started in the Philippines but in August 2008 the
Set 1 of Pantawid beneficiaries were chosen in four (4) municipalities of Nueva Ecija with 7,545
registered households.
By the year 2010, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program covered the seven (7) provinces of
the region with 37 municipalities and 20,964 additional households to be included in set 3
beneficiaries.
Set 4 beneficiaries commenced in 2011 in Masantol, Pampanga with expansion of the two
Highly Urbanized Cities (HUCs) and two municipalities with 50% and above poverty incidence
and there were 3,212 potential households. In the later months of 2011, 5575 households were
front loaded from the city of Muñoz and San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.
2012 was the year when set 5 beneficiaries started with 50, 376 households covering all the
cities and indigenous people municipalities and municipalities with poverty incidence with
30.6%.
In January 2013, set 6 started with 131,260 target beneficiaries covering all the municipalities
not covered in the previous sets and with the expansion of set 3 areas.
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program has covered 100% of the 7 provinces, 14 cities, 116
municipalities and 99.39% out of 3,102 target barangays in the region. The program has
likewise identified 17,227 potential households for Set 7. Out of the 309,855 potential
household beneficiaries, 258, 486 were registered.
 Pantawid Pamilya potential households for Sets 1-6 and 7(batches 1 & 2) in the region were
309,855. As of September 13, 2013, the program has 258,486 registered household based on
the clean list record coming from the database.
Status of payment of the Beneficiaries and the schedule of pay-outs lodge in the Finance. It
plays a vital and crucial role in handling the cash grants of the beneficiaries taking consideration
the essence of transparency and accountability. The budget allocation was based on the
Compliance Verification turn-out per period in the status of Payments for 1st, 2nd and
3rd period per Province.
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program has two goals, first is social assistance which is to
provide cash assistance to the poor to alleviate their needs (short term) and lastly it aims to
break the intergenerational poverty cycle through investment in human capital , i.e. health,
nutrition and education(long-term).
The objectives of the Pantawid Pamilya are:
1. To improve preventive health care among pregnant women and young children
2. To increase the enrollment in and attendance rate of children in school
3. To reduce the incidence of child labor
4. To raise the average consumption rate in food expenditure of poor households
5. To encourage parents to invest in their children’s (and their own) human
capital through investments in their health and nutrition, education, and participation in
community activities
Conditionalities that beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya are:
Health & Nutrition
1. Pregnant women avail pre- and post- natal care and Childbirth supervised by
health professional
2. Children 0 to 5 years old avail complete immunization, weight monitoring,
nutrition counseling & preventive health services
3. Children 6 to 14 avail de-worming pills twice a year
Education
1. Children 3 to 5 years old enrolled in Day Care with 85% class attendance/month
2. Children 6 to 14 enrolled in elementary and high school with 85% class
attendance/month
Parenting Education
 Attend Family Development Sessions once a month
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program has three main systems which are:
Beneficiary Update System – Updating of beneficiary information in the system is one of the
significant components of the program. Failure to update the beneficiary profile would possibly
result to exclusion in the Compliance Verification Form and eventually a reason for decrease of
cash grant or worst will not receive cash grant for the specified period.
Compliance Verification System – CVU takes charge on the distribution and retrieval of CV
Forms for Schools, Health Centers and Barangays for the compliance Period of May to June
2013. The Compliance Verification System develops a monitoring tool for the number of
beneficiaries complying with the Conditionalities of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
Grievance Redress System – The goal of Redress System is to Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino
address complaints/grievances from different stakeholders in relation to the implementation of
Program. Empower and develop a comprehensive process in assessing and resolving grievances
on its corresponding level: Municipality, Provincial Operating Office (POO), Regional Project
Monitoring Office (RPMO), and National Monitoring Office (NPMO). Thus, action taken depends
on the level of complaints and resolved in accordance to the situation may arise.

What is Sustainable Livelihood Program?

The Sustainable Livelihood Program, also known as SLP, is a community-based program, which
provides capacity building to improve the program participants’ socio-economic status. As a
component of the Convergence Strategy, the program aims to serve the beneficiaries of the
Pantawid Pamilya, hoping to sustain and expand beyond the five-year intervention the socio-
economic benefits gained.
Prior to being called SLP, the Department of Social Welfare and Development already
implements the Self-Employment Assistance Kaunlaran (SEA-K) Program. It is one of the core
social protection programs geared to combat poverty. The SEA-K Program is an investment in
building social capital at the community level in order to increase the access of marginalized
households to financial services. It has the goal of establishing community-based, self-managed
and sustainable credit facilities to enable the economically active poor to have continued access
to credit.
Program Objectives
1. To improve the socio-economic capacity of the participants through a micro-enterprise
development and employment facilitation program that shall ultimately provide a sustainable
income source ;
2. To facilitate opportunities for micro-enterprise development through social preparation,
capacity building and resource provision activities;
3. To facilitate the linkage to employment opportunities through social preparation, capacity
building and labor-market networking;
4. To link the participants to support services and programs of different partners, including but
not limited to NGAs, CSOs and private institutions;
5. To improve the beneficiaries’ capacity to avail of the products and services of different
financing institutions, including but not limited to credit, savings and micro-insurance;
6. To promote community involvement and social responsibility among the participants through
activities that builds their relationship in their community, their co-participants, their families
and themselves.
Target Participants
The Sustainable Livelihood Program participants should meet the following requirements:
1. Should belong to poor households as identified through the National Household Targeting
System for Poverty Reduction (NHT-SPR), prioritizing Pantawid Pamilya program participants
and other qualified poor households not included in the NHTS-PR
2. Should at least be 18 years of age for the Employment Facilitation Track and at least 16 years
of age for the Microenterprise Development Track after submission of a written consent from a
legal parent or guardian
3. For the Microenterprise Development Track, should be a beneficiary of DSWD’s social
protection programs and services who has limited or no access to formal credit facilities (micro-
financing institutions, banks, cooperatives, formal lending investors, pawnshops, and other
formally registered credit entities)
4. For the Employment Facilitation Track, should be a beneficiary of DSWD’s social protection
programs and services with labor skills but with no formal employment or is unemployed
5. Preferably be a beneficiary of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program for at least 2 years
wherein the Social Welfare Indicators (SWI) show a readiness for engagement in livelihoods
Program Tracks
SLP is implemented through a two-track program. The first track, the Microenterprise
Development Track, supports micro-enterprises in becoming organizationally and economically
viable. Meanwhile, the second track, the Employment Facilitation Track, assists participants to
access appropriate employment opportunities.
Track 1
MICRO-ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT
The Microenterprise Development Track is a capacity building program that focuses on micro-
enterprise development, skills enhancement, networking and partnership building, and
provision of capital assistance to poor families. The participants shall be organized by their
economic or livelihood activity.
Track 2
EMPLOYMENT FACILITATION
The Employment Facilitation Track provides assistance to unemployed members of poor
families preferring a job rather than start an enterprise for income generation. They shall be
provided with technical skills training, occupational guidance and counseling, and job referrals
or placement.
CDED Process
Both tracks are executed based on the Community-Driven Enterprise Development (CDED)
approach, which equips program participants to actively contribute to production and labor
markets by looking at available resources and accessible markets. The CDED approach
promotes the Local Economic Development (LED) strategy and Value Chain Production of each
community.
The program participants undergo a broadening of their resource-base by mobilizing savings,
accessing capital, engaging in microenterprise activities, participating in the value chain
markets, and receiving institutional development support.
Appropriate training activities are provided to the participants for them to improve their
existing micro-enterprises or pursue other enterprise activities with market opportunities. A
follow through intervention is done by connecting them to non-government organizations and
private sector groups that provide business development services such as: (i) product and
marketing development, (ii) skills enhancement and business management in preparation for
market integration, and (iii) diversified loan packages for further financial assistance.
SLP Updates
As of the 3rd quarter for CY 2013, SLP (Region 3) has provided capital assistance amounting to
P18,705,500.00 to 3,331 groups of beneficiaries with an average of 30 members per group and
158 individuals, commonly known as family enterprise, amounting to P1,119,817.00
In terms of partnership, interventions of partners range from: 39% Employment Facilitation,
31% Values and Skills Formation, 16% Credit, Savings and Micro-insurance, 3% Product
Development and Marketing, 2% Market Linkage and 9% other services.
A monitoring and evaluation system called Sustainable Livelihood Program Information System
(SLPIS) has been deployed starting March of 2013 to ensure efficient and timely monitoring of
beneficiaries served under both Microenterprise Development and Employment Facilitation
Tracks of the Sustainable Livelihood Program.
The Sustainable Livelihood Program recognizes the need to establish partnership with different
sectors of society to better uplift the living condition of our beneficiaries and be able to cater to
their needs. Through SLP’s National Project Management Office (NPMO) and Regional Project
Management Office (RPMO), the SLP has been consistent in tapping partners to expand its
capacity of effective program implementation.
Some existing partners, both National and Regional level include:
SM FOUNDATION
SM Foundation has recently conducted its graduation to farmer beneficiaries of Bulacan, Tarlac,
City of San Fernando and Fort Magsaysay, who were part of the “Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan”
project, a skills development training on new farming technologies to beneficiaries in rural
areas.
KAPAMPANGAN DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (KDF)
KDF conducts a series of skills development training with topics on meat processing, quail egg
production, honeybee keeping, fruit tree propagation technique, mushroom culture, soap and
detergent making etc. every Saturday of the month to further capacitate and enhance
livelihood skills of beneficiaries.
NEGOTECHNO
Negotechno supervises the provision of technical skills training on the production of decorative
materials out of corn husks specifically in Tarlac.
BULACAN STATE UNIVERSITY (BSU)
BSU is one with the vision of uplifting the socio-economic status of beneficiaries through
capacity building and skills development. Additionally, planting of Mangrove among coastal
areas particularly in Babatwin Malolos Bulacan has been a priority project of SLP and BSU.
BPI-GLOBE BANKO
Assisting beneficiaries in terms of savings mobilization and social insurance has been the
commitment of BPI Globe BanKo.
ALALAY SA KAUNLARAN INC (ASKI)
More than being a micro finance institution, ASKI aims to promote the welfare of the poor by
extending capacity building, training and employment. A Farmer’s Entrepreneurship Training
was conducted last August and September to Cabanatuan City and Abandon Nueva Ecija.
SL- AGRITECH
SL Agritech imparts the different techniques and technologies particularly in Hybrid Rice
Farming to our farmer beneficiaries
UP-CSWCD
UP-CSWCD already conducted two successful immersion of their students in Bagting Nueva
Ecija focused on Community Development, Immersion, Social Preparation and Self-Awareness.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS AND HIGHWAYS (DPWH)
“Trabahong Lansangan”, a partnership project of DPWH and DSWD is continuously
implemented in all seven provinces of the region.
TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (TESDA
All provinces of Region 3 has successfully culminated TESDA’s Cash for Training project and
conducted turn over of tool kits to beneficiaries
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT (DOLE)
DOLE had provided capital assistance to families in Nueva Ecija with working children to
eradicate the growing number of child labor and encourage establishment of livelihood to these
households.
PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Through their “Negosyo Mo, Bukas Ko” program, out of school youths from the City of San
Fernando Pampanga are given the opportunity for employment which may later on help them
pursue education. GoNegosyo also designed a 2 ½ month Training for Transformation to
empower and develop the personality of these out of school youths who are now on the road
to a brighter future.

EMERGENCY CASH TRANSFER

The ECT is an adaptive strategy in bridging the gaps between immediate disaster relief,
humanitarian response, and early recovery support through the provision of unconditional cash
to victims of disasters and emergency situations requiring interventions.
The ECT program reduces the financial and administrative costs to the government, in general,
and DSWD, in particular, in delivering the various food and non-food items to the affected areas
and population. Furthermore, the program minimizes security risks for personnel through
digital payouts by using the financial service providers, instead of carrying a large sum of money
in the payout area, which contributes also to the lessening of logistical demands. In addition, it
supports the early revival of local markets, at the same time it also accelerates the return to
normalcy of Internally Displaced Persons. It will also complement existing disaster response
support by empowering affected vulnerable families to decide on their own needs using
available local resources.

Department of Social Welfare and Development

 Mission

"To provide social protection and promote the rights and welfare of the poor, vulnerable
and the disadvantaged individual, family and community to contribute to poverty
alleviation and empowerment through SWD policies, programs, projects and services
implemented with or through LGUs, NGOs, POs, GOs and other members of civil
society."

 DSWD Legal Bases

  Provide a balanced approach to welfare whereby the needs and interest of the population
are addressed not only at the outbreak of crisis but more importantly at the stage that
would inexorably lead to such crisis.

- Executive Order No. 123

 An Act to Regulate the Practice of Social Work and the Operation of Social Work
Agencies in the Philippines and for Other Purposes

- Republic Act No. 4373

 Develop and implement a comprehensive social welfare program consisting of:

 Prevention and remedial programs and services for individuals, families and
communities;
 Protective, remedial and development welfare services for children and youth;
 Vocational rehabilitation and related services for the physically handicapped, ex-
convict and individuals with special needs;
 Training and research and special projects.

- Republic Act No. 5416

 Consistent with local autonomy and decentralization, the provision for the delivery of
basic services and facilities shall be devolved from the National Government to
provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays so that each Local Government Unit shall
be responsible for a minimum set of services and facilities in accordance with established
national policies, guidelines and standard.
 For purposes of this Rule, devolution shall mean the transfer of power and authority from
the National Government to LGUs to enable them to perform specific functions and
responsibilities.
 All NGAs shall conduct periodic consultations with appropriate LGUs, People s
Organization, NGOs and other concerned sectors of the community before any project or
program is implemented in their respective jurisdiction.

- Republic Act No. 7160

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the primary

government agency mandated to develop, implement, and coordinate social protection
and poverty-reduction solutions for and with the poor, vulnerable, and disadvantaged.

The following agencies are attached to the DSWD:

Council for the Welfare of Children
Inter-Country Adoption Board
National Youth Commission
National Council on Disability Affairs
WHAT IS Kalahi-CIDSS?
Kalahi-CIDSS, otherwise known as the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and
Integrated Delivery of Social Services, is one of the poverty alleviation programs of the Philippine
Government being implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). It
uses the community-driven development (CDD) approach, a globally recognized strategy for
achieving service delivery, poverty reduction, and good governance outcomes.
Started in 2003, its scale-up was approved on 18 January 2013 by the National Economic
Development Authority (NEDA) Board, which was headed by President Benigno Aquino III.
CDD:

 Helps communities in poor municipalities identify challenges around reducing poverty and
make informed decisions on a range of locally identified options for development, including how
this is made and in what form;
 Gives control of resources to address local poverty to communities; and
 Builds the capacity of both state (including local governments) and civil society stakeholders
to provide assistance and respond to calls for support from poor communities as they implement
development initiatives.

The development objective of Kalahi-CIDSS is to have barangays/communities of targeted

municipalities become empowered to achieve improved access to services and to participate in
more inclusive local planning, budgeting, and implementation.