BAGUIO CITY—The Department of Social Welfare and Development enhances its Family Development Sessions (FDS)—a conditionality under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program—by adding a new set of module, this time, focused to empower its youth beneficiaries.

The Youth Development Session (YDS) is an enhancement to the FDS which aims to educate the youth beneficiaries currently enrolled in high school about the changes they go through as adolescents and how they can handle these changes effectively. It caters to the recent expansion of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) which now includes youth beneficiaries aged 15-18 years old.

In the Cordillera Administrative Region, 27,032 high school students under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program are targeted to go through the YDS. The sessions are also expected to decrease the number of out-of-school youth in the region.

“With YDS, we hope to stop the youth from dropping-out of high school and lessen the number of out-of-school youth since making them realize why they need to go to school every day and finish school is our primary focus,” said Family Development Session Focal Person John Eric Escalante.

The DSWD hopes to increase the rate of high school graduates per household under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program by developing a positive mind-set on the youth through the YDS. Included in the YDS module are activities which will allow the youth beneficiaries to understand their changing bodies, minds, emotions, and roles in the society.

“Aside from helping the parents raise their families, we are also helping the youth to become significant members of the community, and they can only contribute in building their communities if they are fully aware of their capacities,” said Escalante. He also added that the capacities of the youth will be better developed if they are able to graduate from high school and have the chance to pursue college education.

Furthermore, the YDS will also focus on encouraging the youth to appreciate their self-worth, define their identity, and achieve healthy body image and lifestyle.

Part of the module is to conduct the sessions in a fun and hands-on manner to capture the youth beneficiaries’ interest and encourage them to participate.

The YDS was formulated June this year and is set to be launched this August. Like the FDS, the YDS is to be conducted once a month and will be used as a conditionality for the program.nDSWD-CAR, SOCIAL MARKETING UNIT

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