The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Friday said the agency and its key partners launched the Gatasang Kalabaw Kontra Kagutuman at Kahirapan (GK3K) Project in Barangay San Andres, Balungao town in Pangasinan as part of the agency's efforts to address hunger and poverty in the Ilocos Region.

"Ang DSWD, bilang isa sa mga pangunahing ahensya ng gobyerno na tumutulong na matugunan ang kahirapan at kagutuman sa ating bansa ay patuloy na nagpapatupad ng mga programa upang maiangat ang pamumuhay ng ating mga kababayan. (The DSWD, as one of the primary government agencies helping to address poverty and hunger in our country, continues to implement programs to improve the lives of our fellow citizens.)," DSWD Undersecretary for Operations Monina Josefina Romualdez said during the project launch last Monday.

In her speech, Undersecretary Romualdez said the GK3K Project is a Program Convergence Budgeting (PCB) - Zero Hunger project initiated by the DSWD through its Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) and in partnership with other national government agencies and the local government unit (LGU) of Balungao.

"Sa pamamagitan ng proyektong ito, mabibigyan natin ng pagkakataon ang mga kasapi ng SLP Associations na magkaroon ng maganda at sustenableng pangkabuhayan. (Through this project, we will give members of SLP Associations the opportunity to have a good and sustainable livelihood.)," Romualdez pointed out.

The DSWD undersecretary said the project benefits some 12 SLP Associations, comprising 300 poor households in the municipality, that are engaged in carabao-based enterprise through the P4.6 million seed fund from the agency.

"Magbibigay po ang programa ng seed capital at community mobilization fund upang magkaroon ng kapital ang ating mga benepisyaryo. (The program will provide seed capital and community mobilization funds to give capital to our beneficiaries)," Romualdez said.

As part of the convergence effort, the LGU of Balungao provided 10 hectares of land for the carabao housing, forage area, and vegetable production site.

The LGU also extended logistics and other essential materials amounting to more than P4 million.

The Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) at the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (MSU) will facilitate the specialty training for the SLP participants.

The university will also provide additional carabaos and administer artificial insemination.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), for its part, will give kits while other partners will facilitate capacity-building interventions for the beneficiaries.

"Hindi po ito magagawa ng DSWD lamang dahil lahat po tayo ay may mahalagang ambag sa matagumpay na pagpapatupad ng proyektong ito. (This cannot be done by DSWD alone because all of us have an important contribution to the successful implementation of this project.)," Romualdez said as she expressed her gratitude to the agency partners.

With the convergence efforts of the various agencies, the GK3K project is so far the biggest PCB-Zero Hunger project being implemented in the region with a project cost of more than P8 million.