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WB official lauds DSWD programs

Seal_of_the_Department_of_Social_Welfare_and_Development.svgPROGRAMS of the Department of Social Welfare and Development received praises from the World Bank. But a key official cautioned the importance of close monitoring so it will not be subject to abuse.

“You have to keep on monitoring this.. (You should) have a maximum accountability and where there is not, you go after the case where there is a problem,” said World Bank vice president for East Asia and the Pacific Axel van Trotsenburg.
The World Bank official, together with DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman and the group, visited the municipality of Borbon yesterday to monitor the implementation of DSWD projects like the Conditional Cash Transfer or otherwise known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and the National Community Driven Development Program or called KALAHI-CIDSS.

A portion of the funds used to finance these social projects in the Philippines came from the World Bank. In a data presented yesterday, the World Bank showed that it has allocated $502 million for the 4Ps and $472 million for KALAHI-CIDSS.
“It’s a very empowering project (wherein)…people become the center of development,” Trotsenburg said, noting that the Philippines’ implementation of the social programs can be an inspiration to other developing countries.

Aside from the Philippines, the 4Ps or globally identified as CCT is also present in Mexico, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia, and even in the United States.
Issue on sustainability was also raised during the discussion in Borbon.
Soliman said people themselves, if they see the benefit of these DSWD programs, have to demand that these be sustained even after Aquino’s administration ends.
It was former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who first brought the CCT program to the Philippines.
Soliman said that for the KALAHI CIDSS, it’s partnership with World Bank is until 2019.

KALAHI CIDDS adopts a community-driven approach in empowering the poor communities wherein members of the community will organize themselves and prepare project proposals to address their common problems, and be given financial and technical support from the government.
These projects may include local infrastructure such as waters systems, school buildings, health stations, and roads among others.
In Borbon alone, projects under the KALAHI CIDDS program reached P56.8 million. The amount was used to finance a multi-purpose building, road project, water system, and a drainage canal.

Meanwhile, 4Ps beneficiary in the municipality as of August 2015 since it started in 2010 covered 1,906 households. Cash grant funded from 2010 to 2015 reached P87.6 million.
Being it “conditional” in nature, beneficiaries have to do its part. They need to make sure that their children go to school and get regular check ups among other requirements.

Beneficiaries
Emelina Monilar, 42, mother of seven is one of the beneficiaries of 4Ps. She receives P3,000 every two months to finance the education of her three children covered in the program.
She said the amount, although insufficient to meet her family’s needs has been very helpful already. Out of poverty, she cannot send her children to college.
She hopes that her 15-year old child would make it to college, who is now part of the class top 10.

“Kung hunungon ni nila human ni Aquino, wala mi mahimo. Pero unta ipadayon ni,” Monilar told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview in Borbon. She has been part of 4Ps for two years now. His husband earns a living in riprap and brings home P1,500 every fifteen days.
Meanwhile, Victoria Brigoli, 52, a widow relies mainly on the money she gets from 4Ps. She is a farmer in her own land, but the produce of it is only for personal

consumption.
In the Philippines, opponents of 4Ps attacked it on a number of grounds. Some consider it as a doleout, while others think that the vast amount of money injected in the program is vulnerable to corruption.
For 2016, 4Ps budget is at P62 billion, Soliman said.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on September 10, 2015.

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The work of Preda Foundation is focused on alleviating the physical, emotional, psychological and sexual abuse and suffering of children and preventing abuse through community education and social media.

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