BAGUIO CITY – Different government agencies in the Cordillera Administrative Region attended the Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) Meeting cum Regional Transition Planning Workshop organized by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Municipal Local Government Operation Officers (MLGOO) of Set 1 beneficiaries were also present to participate in the planning process to provide inputs based on existing conditions in the target areas.

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Regional Program Coordinator Irene O. Bungay headed the RAC meeting with the goal to produce the Regional Transition Plan of Set 1 Pantawid Program beneficiaries who are graduating from the Program this coming December.

The meeting’s agendas include the presentation of updates on the major programs of the DSWD (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, Sustainable Livelihood Program and Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Service). This presentation highlights the implementation of the CONVERGENCE strategy of the DSWD.

DSWD-CAR Regional Director Leonardo Reynoso also presented the 2012 Poverty Situation of the Cordillera Administrative Region as unofficially released yet by the National Statistical Coordination Board. He reported that there are 73,082 poor households in CAR equating to a 22.6% poverty incidence. He also reported that as of March 2013, the Pantawid Pamilya is covering 58,512 families which is 80% of the total number of target beneficiaries.  There is a remaining 14,570 households which are potential beneficiaries from all the poor households according to the new poverty status reports.

Meanwhile, a group workshop was conducted to produce the Regional Transition Plan for the graduating Set 1 beneficiaries of Pantawid Program. The groups had to identify programs and services that will be targeted and implemented among different stakeholders and key result areas like basic services and livelihood. The goal is to move the living conditions of the beneficiaries from survival to self-sufficiency.

The outputs by each group were presented to all participants to come up with a uniformed Regional Transition Plan.

The Regional Transition Plan aims to sustain or further improve the development of the 13,000 Set 1 beneficiaries of the Program who will graduate this year.   DSWD-CAR, SOCIAL MARKETING UNIT, JOMEL ANTHONY V. GUTIERREZ