DSWD set to conduct household assessment

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Social Welfare and Development is set to conduct a National Household Assessment (NHA) within this month.

The NHA was launched to identify the poor families under the government’s effort to reduce poverty. DSWD is currently implementing several protection programs aimed at reaching the poor households.

For the NHA, DSWD-7 will dispatch more than 400 enumerators to the cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Dumaguete as well as selected towns in Negros Oriental.

The assessment will be done in coordination with the respective local government.

DSWD-7 information officer Jaybee Carillo said that NHA is a new targeting program that adopts an efficient, effective and transparent household assessment system.

“It establishes a socio-economic data base of household that will be used in identifying beneficiaries of current and future national social protection programs for the poor,” Carillo said.

The new system is also expected to reduce the rate of slippage given the government’s limited resources.

At the same time it hopes to lessen exclusivity or under coverage of the poor targeted as beneficiaries of the social protection programs.

The system requires the creation of a database of potential beneficiaries which the DSWD will spearhead.

“DSWD will maintain a data base built in a secure infrastructure with user-friendly data sharing capabilities within DSWD and with other government agencies,” Carillo said.

Under NHA, beneficiaries’ data will be updated every four years. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/LPM (THE FREEMAN)