Sustainable Livelihood Program

Department of Social Welfare and Development

It was December 27, 2013 when I received a private message from my friend Ms Lei Madeline Mohammad that there had just been an opening for a Trainer post in DSWD under Field Office IX. I was actually actively searching for better horizons for growth way back so I followed the link she gave me. The positions assignment was under the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP). Immediately, I’ve searched the web for a better understanding of what the program is all about and to tell you frankly, I found no simpler definition of the program. I’ve applied for the position blindly with my training experiences as my only card in the battlefield.

As a promise to myself, I am giving those would be employees of the Sustainable Livelihood Program some heads up for you to be able to understand better the organization you are placing yourself into. No worries, I am enjoying every second of my stay so I am looking forward to working with you guys soon in DSWD -SLP.

SLP Logo

Excerpts from the Capacity Building Proposal on Field Operation Manual: “To respond to poverty situation in the Philippines, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as the lead agency in the social welfare and development sector currently implements three major social protection programs –the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan –Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) Project, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4P’s) and the Sustainable Livelihood Program.

In line with this, the Department has developed a convergence strategy which encompasses these three (3) social protection programs that aims to maximize the impact of its poverty reduction programs, through an effective targeting system and a holistic community development approach. Each of these programs has its own strategies and outputs and both public and private sectors have identified their own contributions for the improvement of the Pantawid Pamilya program participants’ well-being.

Moreover, the department through the Sustainable Livelihood Program offers two tracks for the Pantawid Pamilya program participants: (1) Micro-Enterprise Development Track that supports micro-enterprises in becoming organizationally and economically viable, and the second track, (2) the Employment Facilitation Track assist participants to access appropriate employment opportunities.

This program will provide income generating opportunities and employment to the Pantawid Pamilya program participants in order to sustain and enhance the socio-economic benefits they gained even beyond 5-year intervention of the CCT family. It is therefore designed as one of the transition strategy of the Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries from survival to subsistence and self-sufficiency levels of poverty.”

"Prior to being called SLP, the Department already implements the Self-Employment Assistance Kaunlaran (SEA-K) Program. As a core social protection program to combat poverty, the SEA – K has been present for over forty years and is one of the few government funded programs that continued to exist despite changes in political administrations. The SEA-K Program is an investment in building social capital at the community level in order to increase the access of marginalized households to financial services. It has the goal of establishing community-based, self-managed and sustainable credit facilities to enable the economically active poor to have continued access to credit. Capability building of the SEA-K beneficiaries is the main focus of the program with the Social Workers and Project Development Officers (PDOs) working together on the different components: (i) enterprise development, (ii) organizational development, (iii) capital assistance, and (iv) community organization.

Due to the growing needs of the DSWD’s beneficiaries for well-sustained livelihood and employment opportunities, the SEA-K Program was enhanced and transformed into the Sustainable Livelihood Program, wherein it adopted a community-based comprehensive family approach so that the livelihood strategies are informed and rooted in the context of the community. The key developments of the Sustainable Livelihood Program relative to the SEA-K Program are as follows:

a) Opportunity to access multiple income sources through the two-track program, which are the Micro-Enterprise Development and the Employment Facilitation.

b) Development of resource-based, market driven and economically viable microenterprises following the Community Driven Enterprise Development (Annex i) strategy.

Given this enhanced livelihood assistance program, DSWD now takes on a facilitative and steering role. Partnership building and market linking are the key functions of DSWD in order to leverage socio-economic opportunities for the poor."-SLP Field Operations Manual

I do hope this was able to help you in one way or another. Looking forward to seeing you soon in DSWD-SLP and looking forward to working with you in helping our Filipino People.