The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continued to improve the well-being of poor families in 2024 through its social protection and human capital development programs, an agency official said on Monday (30 December).

“Through the provision of interventions centered on human capital development, the DSWD’s social protection programs enhanced the economic and social conditions of poor Filipino families and their communities this year,” Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao, the DSWD’s spokesperson said.

Established in 2008 and officially institutionalized in 2019 through Republic Act 11310, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) continues to invest in the health and education of poor and vulnerable households to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty in the country.

“The 4Ps currently serves more than 4.2 million active households, utilizing more than P77 billion program funds from January to November 2024,” the DSWD spokesperson reported.

Dumlao said the DSWD provided livelihood program supports to some 67,307 households through the various modalities of the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) in 2024.

The SLP is the Department’s capacity-building program that provides access to opportunities that increase the productivity of the livelihood assets of the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized communities, helping them improve their socio-economic well-being.

“Through the SLP, participants were given the option to take either the micro-enterprise development track, which supports micro-enterprises to become organizationally and economically viable, or the employment facilitation track, which assists Filipinos to access appropriate employment opportunities,” Dumlao explained.

Another human capital development program of the DSWD is the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS).

For 2024, under additional financing (AF) funded through a loan agreement with the World Bank to address the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and recent disasters, the KALAHI-CIDSS was able to help more than 1.6 million households in 7,514 barangays at 288 municipalities across 14 regions in the country.

The KALAHI-CIDSS uses the community-driven development strategy which allows communities to gain control over decisions and resources. Through the program, community members actively participate to identify and prioritize their community’s concerns and allow them to design, implement, and manage solutions to their priority problems.

Another modality that the KALAHI-CIDSS program utilizes is the Kapangyarihan at Kaunlaran sa Barangay Cash-For-Work (CFW) Program. This modality provides cash support in exchange for the agreed temporary community work, service, or task rendered by target beneficiaries affected by disasters and those belonging to economically poor and vulnerable communities and sectors.

As of November 2024, the KALAHI-CIDSS KKB was able to complete 24 sub-projects and provide CFW assistance to 32,499 persons with disability and 3,659 families with college students or new graduates.

“As we approach the year 2025, the DSWD pledges for renewed commitment to public service in terms of strengthening its programs to help poor communities and families in difficult circumstances to have access to more adaptive and shock-responsive social welfare programs that are inclusive to their needs,” Dumlao said.