BAGUIO CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development in coordination with the City Social Welfare and Development Office headed by social welfare and development officer Betty Fangasan recently spearheaded a four-day training on the Social Protection Handbook at the City Travel Hotel.
Based on the reports of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), the poverty incidence among the population as of the first semester of 2012 was 27.9 percent. Thus, poverty remained unchanged compared to 2006 and 2009 estimated as 28.8% and 28.6% as the difference is not statistically significant.
Because of this, the government has shown increased attention to reforming and reinforcing its social protection system and has taken some positive steps in addressing the major lapses in its social protection policies.
DSWD is now undertaking a Social Welfare and Development Reform Project which is an instrument to support the social protection program of DSWD.
Said project aims to further enhance its capacity in policy and strategy formulation to be a leader in social protection as well as to develop tools for analysis and planning that can help respond to the situation.
In order to be efficient in the undertaking, the Social Protection Vulnerability and Adaptation Manual (SP VAM) was formulated which will serve as an instrument for broader social protection with regard to risk-related vulnerability.
Said manual is a tool for identifying adaptive strategies and capacities for social protection implemented at the local level.
This will enable the generation of macro-level assessment of vulnerabilities that operationalizes the concept of bottom-up development approach to social protection.
It was emphasized during the training the importance of identifying actual risks, vulnerabilities and hazards and subsequently, how to respond to such situation.
“It is very important to know and to identify who are the vulnerable groups that needs our attention and how we can help them recover from their plight,” said CSWD Officer Fangasan.
It is the advocacy of the city government here to develop and reinforce its social protection system for the benefit of its constituents./Jho Arranz
