Ten organized associations of women from Luisiana in Laguna Province were provided with Php693,000 worth of livelihood assistance under the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP). Majority of these women are beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

The SLP, one of DSWD’s core social poverty alleviation programs, seeks to provide income-generating opportunities to poor households, particularly the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilya program. Through a community-driven enterprise development approach, the beneficiaries are provided capacity building and zero-interest capital assistance for their micro-enterprise ventures.

Last July 10, the DSWD Field Office IV-A has awarded the checks to the women associations namely the Weaver, Angat Pangkabuhayan, Hope, Blessing, Balulang, Munting Butil, Great Mother, Kaunlaran, Pandan Tree and Working Mom.

Most of the members of these associations will engage in weaving ‘pandan’ leaves, one of the most common sources of livelihood of women in the said municipality.

DSWD IV-A Regional Director Leticia T. Diokno, in her message to the beneficiaries during the awarding of checks, shared that the DSWD will continuously help in improving the wellbeing of poor families through sustainable livelihood opportunities. She also encouraged the participants to use the skills provided through the SLP trainings to succeed in their respective micro-enterprises and later help improve the lives of their families.

The local government unit (LGU) of Luisiana, on the other hand, commit to help the DSWD in the monitoring of the beneficiaries of the program.

According to Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officer Marietta Santiago, the LGU will ensure that these beneficiaries will comply with their responsibilities with the SLP especially on their timely payments of their loans.

In the implementation of the SLP, the zero-interest capital seed assistance must be paid by the beneficiaries weekly for a period of one year.# with reports from JOCuya