The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), through its Field Office IV-A awarded a total of Php77,775,000.00 worth of livelihood assistance to 5,443 individuals in Batangas Province during the year 2023.
The said recipients are all qualified beneficiaries of the Department’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) from the 31 municipalities and 3 cities of the province. Each beneficiary received assistance equivalent to the amount that would enable them to start their respective micro enterprise or business individually or as a group.
According to Alvin Libao, the DSWD SLP Provincial Coordinator for Batangas, of the total recipients mentioned, 2,096 of them were organized into 254 SLP associations under the regular SLP modality with 15 to 30 members each, while the other 3,347 recipients were awarded assistance for various individual projects. The recipients of assistance for individual projects include those identified in conflict vulnerable areas and those identified under the Zero Hunger program.
Each recipient of the livelihood assistance had undergone basic orientation about the program, basic business management skills assessment and basic business management training or orientation. Other skills development training are expected to be further provided to each program participant as part of the program monitoring of the program monitoring officers of each locality in the province.
Among the livelihood projects undertaken by the livelihood program beneficiaries are community or sari-sari stores, rice retailing, agricultural production / reselling and livestock raising. Other livelihood projects undertaken include casket production, vermicast production and mushroom production.
The Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) is a capability-building program for poor, vulnerable and marginalized households and communities to help improve their socio-economic conditions by accessing them to livelihood opportunities and help them acquire necessary assets to engage in and maintain thriving livelihoods.***