Butuan City – The 2011 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Accomplishment Report of Caraga Region showed that compliance rate of Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries to the conditions on health, education and Family Development Session (FDS) has increased from January 2011 to October 2011.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) conducts Compliance Verification conducted every two months.
To monitor the beneficiaries’ compliance of the conditions set by the program, a Compliance Verification System (CVS) was installed. The DSWD conducted series of consultations with partner agencies to strengthen the compliance monitoring system on education and health were conducted.
Education
With this effort, the compliance rate on education among children aged 6-14 in Caraga for year 2011 has increased to 98% or 188,499 children in elementary in October 2011 compared to the first month of 2011 where there were only 104, 408 children enrolled in elementary. In children 0-5 year’s old, daycare attendance has increased from 20,232 in January 2011 to 38,495 in October 2011.
The data shows that through educational grant that the beneficiaries received, Pantawid Pamilya children are encouraged to attend classes and to do well in school because their school needs and school dues are paid on time. In fact, there are children beneficiaries who excelled in school like Nino Carlo Burlat of Iilhan, Sibagat, Agusan del Sur. Nino made his parents proud when he topped in his class and Ailyn Jock, a Mamanwa grade 1 student who ranked 3rd in her class. Even mothers also noticed the impact of the educational grants in their children’s lives.
“I want my children to finish school because I don’t want them to be like me who wasn’t able to reach grade 2 due to poverty, that’s why I am grateful to be a beneficiary of Pantawid Pamilya because all of my children can now go to school. Every time I receive the educational grant for the children, I always made it a priority in my list to buy food for the family, school supplies like pencils, ball pens, papers and pay their school fees,” said teary-eyed Sita Jock, a Mamanwa beneficiary and mother of Ailyn Jock from Kitcharao, Agusan del Norte. Sita doesn’t want her children to have the same fate with her; she wants her children to have a better future and a better life.
Health and Nutrition
One of the objectives of the program is to improve the preventive health care among pregnant women and children, with the implementation of Pantawid Pamilya in Caraga, parent beneficiaries visit their health center for their children’s regular health check-up. For children aged 0-5 years old, health center visits has increased from 94% or 52,592 children in January 2011 to 97% or 79,741, while 81,738 6-14 years old children had been dewormed.
Family Development Sessions (FDS)
Part of the condition of the program is the attendance of the beneficiaries during their Family Development Session (FDS.) FDS is a barangay-level meeting composed of 20-30 household or grantee per cluster designed to facilitate parent group sessions. This activity will encourage unity and cooperation among household grantees, it also aims to strengthen family ties and increase their involvement in community development efforts.
In 2011, FDS attendance has increased from 84,203 to 132,508. A mother beneficiary Analiza Biato from Esperanza, Agusan del Sur shared that attending FDS has helped boost her self confidence, “nindot kaayo ang paminaw kung makatabang ka sa uban tao, ug mosalig sila sa imong kapasidad (it feels good when you are able to help others and when you know that other people trust you and believe in your capability)” says Analiza. Analiza was elected as parent leader. She also shared that Pantawid Pamilyang does not only provide cash assistance to its beneficiaries, it also give opportunities for others to discover that they also have the ability and capacity to lead and not just to be a plain housewife.
Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries are now SEA-K Members
With the government’s aim to help poor families find ways to break from the clutches of poverty, in 2011 DSWD’s Self Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K) targeted 10% or the 7,372 beneficiaries of Pantawid Pantawid of sets 1 and 2 which is 73,718 as beneficiaries of the DSWD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program. SEA-K was able to reach 100% of its target and released a total capital assistance of P56, 575,900.00. Through the capital assistance, beneficiaries who would venture into business will no longer have a problem in looking for capital.
In 2011, Pantawid Pamilya also covered 13,905 households of Indigenous People (IP) which is 9.7% of the total household covered by the program. The Province of Agusan del Sur has the highest number of IP households with a total number of 8,999 followed by Surigao del Sur with 3,149 IP households. The tribal classifications of IP in Caraga region are Manobo, Mamanwa, Higaonon, Banwa-on, Mandaya, Talaandig, Subanen, Igorot, B’laan, Maranao, Maguindanao, Tausug and Bajao.
The increasing compliance of the beneficiaries to the conditions, and the beneficiaries’ willingness to venture into business entails that the program is close to achieving its objectives which are: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, Promoting gender equality and empowering women, Reducing child mortality and Improving maternal health care.
In an article posted by World Bank in their official website regarding the implementation of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) it says “a well designed and implemented Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs can have a wide range of good outcomes, e.g. efficient targeting, increased food consumption and improved school enrollment,” this is a conclusion that entails the possible desired outcomes where the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program- the Philippine Version of Conditional Cash Transfer is aimed at achieving. Although the program was not designed as an all-cure for poverty reduction, it is all together fitted to improve access to basic social services, while raising the human capital of poor children, and therefore their future income. The assistance will alleviate their immediate needs (food expenditure) as a short-run effect, and eventually as they are complying with the health and education conditions of the program along with regular attendance of Family Development Sessions a positive behavior would be established on the parents and children conducive to learning and investing for their future through human capital thus breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty– this is now the long-run thrust on poverty alleviation. ### (Social Marketing Unit)
