Social Protection Program - a Contribution to Poverty Alleviation

MANUAL ON SOCIAL PROTECTION, A CONTRIBUTION TO POVERTY ALLEVIATION

"Extreme poverty anywhere is a threat to human security everywhere."
  — Kofi Annan, Seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations

Poverty is a serious problem to deal with. It’s always been present and is one of the biggest and most evident the world is facing. And in the Philippines today, inequality - the gap between the rich and the poor is quite high and widening. This is evident in poor families who are more exposed to risks and are least protected from these risks bringing two significant consequences – the poor severely affected when shocks occur, and they become unwilling to engage in the risk management activities.

Various strategies and programs of the government have been devised for poverty alleviation. Still confronted with many challenges, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has established the Social Welfare and Development Reform Project (SWDRP), an instrument that supports the social protection program of the Government. Along with this instrument is the Social Protection Vulnerability and Adaption Manual (SP VAM), a tool analysis that serves as a guide in assessing risks and in identifying adaptation strategies.

The Joint Memorandum Circular No.1 series of 2015 issued by DSWD and DILG enjoins all provinces, cities, and municipalities to use the SP Handbook for local planning, budgeting, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating social protection programs. In line with this, a roll-out training on Social Protection (SP) Handbook was spearheaded by DSWD FO1 on June 22-25, 2016 at Hotel Veniz, Baguio City. Selected Cities and Municipalities from the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and La Union particularly the City/Municipal Planning and Development Coordinators (C/MPDCs), City/Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officers (C/MSWDOs), and City/Municipal Local Government Operations Officers (C/MLGOOs) attended said activity. Resource speakers are from the DSWD, and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

The four-day seminar aimed to capacitate the LGUs to translate social protection inputs into tangible action plans. It is also aimed to explain to the LGUs the content and structure of the SP handbook which are crucial in preparing the LGUs for their role as advocates of Social Protection. The knowledge and skills needed using the instructional design of the SP handbook were also identified. The participants were informed on undertaking advocacy, identifying risk and vulnerabilities, analyzing, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of SP programs, plans, and activities under the four (4) risks namely; individual life cycle risks, Economic Risks, Environment and Disaster Risks, and Social and Governance Risks.

A Municipal Development Council for Social Protection shall be organized in every LGU through an Executive Order, with four (4) cluster heads. The individual life cycle cluster, economic team cluster, environment and disaster cluster, and social and governance cluster shall be headed by the Local Health Office, Department of Trade and Industry, Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, and Local DILG Office respectively. The whole SP team shall be responsible in convening all its members, the conduct of city/municipal workshop on social protection, the conduct of the barangay workshop on social protection, consolidation of the social protection assessments and plans, and reporting of the social protection to the proper agencies and authorities.