QUEZON CITY -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has tapped the assistance of the local government units (LGUs) to assist in the implementation of the provision of livelihood grants under the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).
The LGUs will now have to consolidate the list of potential program beneficiaries from their respective jurisdictions, which will be endorsed to concerned DSWD Field Offices. An individual who wants to avail of livelihood assistance may directly submit their application documents to their LGU.
The DSWD said that the initiative to partner with LGUs was undertaken to bring the livelihood program closer to the constituents of every locality and to avoid the incident that transpired at the Field Office NCR on January 13, where some 2,000 individuals lined up in hopes of a possible payout.
The DSWD, however, emphasized that the program requires its beneficiaries to go through a series of orientation and skills training as part of the program’s selection process.
Meanwhile, the Department clarified that the incident in the Field Office-NCR was merely due to the proliferation of ‘fake news’ that circulated via SMS (text messages) and fake Facebook accounts.
The DSWD reminded the public to be more critical in the information they get from unverified sources. Further, it is advised that they only refer, inquire and send concerns to DSWD's official Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/ dswdserves or @dswdserves.
Availing of livelihood assistance
The Department explained that the SLP is composed of two tracks including the Micro-enterprise Development (MD) Track which is designed for those who want to start a sustainable micro-enterprise, and the Employment Facilitation (EF) Track which will assist participants to land jobs that are appropriate to their skills and competencies.
Based on the Department’s Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 22 series of 2019, each household can enroll a maximum of two members pursuing two different tracks. A participant of the MD Track must be at least sixteen years old with written legal consent from the parents or the legal guardian while a participant in EF Track must be at least 18 years old upon employment.
Moreover, participants who passed the selection process and attended the required SLP orientation and skills training are eligible to receive livelihood assistance grants. For MD Track, participants may receive a maximum of Php 15,000.00 capital seed fund while EF Track participants may be provided with an Employment Assistance Fund of not more than Php 5,000.00 or a Skills Training Fund of not more than Php 15,000.00.
The SLP is a capacity-building program for poor, vulnerable, and marginalized households and communities to improve their socio-economic conditions through accessing and acquiring necessary assets to engage in and maintain a sustainable livelihood. (DSWD)
