DSWD’s 4Ps wins international award

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) was again awarded for one of its social protection programs, this time getting the MY World Outreach Award for Asia Pacific and Oceania in recognition of its conditional cash transfer (CCT) program.

MY World is a global survey conducted by the United Nations asking the respondents to choose their priorities for a better world. The results will be shared with world leaders in setting the next global development agenda.

The CCT program dubbed Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) provides cash grants to poor families of as much as P1,400 per family with three qualified children subject to fulfillment of certain conditions, such as bringing their children to health centers for medical checkup and making sure that their children go to school and maintain an attendance rate of at least 85 percent.

The DSWD helped the United Nations conduct its surveys during Family Development Sessions (FDS) with 4Ps beneficiaries, thus allowing their concerns and desires to be heard.

DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman said that the recognition was testament of the CCT program’s being a tool to listen to the poor families in the country to assess their real needs.

“We are accepting this award on behalf of the Filipinos with great honor and pride. The Philippines distinguishes itself as a nation with empowered and involved citizens,” Soliman said.

“As a democratic country, we really believe that recognizing the voice and the power of the people in issues and priorities of the country is one way of empowering them,” Soliman added.

“This is also in line with our main vision of inclusive growth and development, where no one is left behind in our concerted goal of moving forward,“ she said.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan accepted the award in behalf of DSWD in New York last month.

Last July, the DSWD was also conferred an award for its Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS), one of tthe deparment’s poverty alleviation programs, by the US Treasury in its second annual Development Impact Honors Awards, beating over 40 other candidates.

Kalahi-CIDSS was chosen  for being “especially high-impact and noteworthy,” according to US Secretary of Treasury Jacob Lew.

Kalahi-CIDSS is one of the three core social protection programs of DSWD in combating poverty.