Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Thursday thanked the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the A Child Trust is Ours to Nurture Inc. (ACTION) for supporting the Gabay Project that will establish a Community-Based Juvenile Intervention Facilitator System.

Gabay Project is a community-based intervention program for children in conflict with the law (CICL) and children at risk (CAR).

“This program is remarkable and is a reiteration that the solutions that we always come up with are not top-to-bottom solutions but bottom-to-top solutions. Meaning, the solutions or interventions or comprehensive packages that we come up with are normally coming from the community,” Gatchalian said.

A signing ceremony on Wednesday (15 January) solidified the engagement of the agency with partner-organizations like JICA and ACTION as the Gabay Project’s pilot implementation will include the cities of Malabon and Navotas in the National Capital Region (NCR) and in Olongapo City in Central Luzon.

The DSWD chief said the agency, together with JICA, ACTION and other partners, is “always happy whenever the array of interventions are contextualized in the local terrain.”

Part of the project’s goal is to strengthen the capacity of the local government units (LGUs) in the implementation of a Comprehensive Local Juvenile Intervention Program (CLJIP) in their respective jurisdiction.

Gatchalian described as “priceless” the provision of capacity building which the DSWD can give to the LGUs through the assistance of the agency’s development partners.

The LGUs have comprehensive packages to address the needs of the CICL but they are not able to roll it out due to a lack of expertise, according to the DSWD chief.

The partnership agreement was signed by Secretary Gatchalian, JICA Philippines Chief Representative Takema Sakamoto, ACTION, Inc. Founder Hajime Yokota, DSWD Undersecretary for International Affairs, Attached and Supervised Agencies (ASAs) Emmeline Villar, and Juvenile Justice and Welfare (JJWC) Council Deputy Executive Director Lilibeth Gallego.

In his message during the signing, JICA Chief Representative Sakamoto said the organization has a long partnership with the DSWD and in so many occasions JICA supported the Department in its numerous developmental programs.

“This collaborative approach for the CICL and CAR under the Gabay Project is aligned with JICA’s commitment to human security following the no-one left-behind concept,” Chief Rep. Sakamoto pointed out.

The JICA official added: “Kasama ninyo kami. Let us continue to work together, hand in hand, to pursue a brighter future for every child, especially those who are vulnerable.”

For his part, ACTION, Inc. Founder and President Yokota expressed the organization’s support for the Gabay Project which focuses on the aftercare intervention for CICL, specifically on providing safety nets to the said sector.

ACTION president Yokota noted that the project addresses the fears that CICL’s face when preparing for eventual reintegration, including temptations and the same environment they came from.

The JJWC, an attached agency of the DSWD, will be on top of this partnership project.