To celebrate the Sustainable Livelihood Program’s 10th Anniversary, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office Caraga held a tree-growing activity and information caravan on July 9, 2021, at Barangay Mandamo, Butuan City.
With the program’s anniversary theme, “Isang Dekada ng PagSibol”, the tree-growing activity symbolizes SLP’s years of growth and evolution as a capacity-building program that aims to improve the socio-economic conditions of poor, vulnerable, and disadvantaged communities.
DSWD FO Caraga collaborated with the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Butuan, which was represented by the Butuan City Environment, and Natural Resources Office and the Barangay Local Government Unit (BLGU) of Mandamo and planted a total of 100 Mahogany and Acacia seedlings at the barangay site of Barangay Mandamo. Seedlings were provided by the Butuan CENRO.
The said barangay site of Mandamo was recommended by Butuan CENRO as it has the potential to become a forest park. In fact, dialogues between LGU Butuan and BLGU Mandamo are currently developing to realize this plan.
OIC-Regional Director Ramel Jamen and SLP Caraga Regional Program Coordinator Mary Ann Manla led the planting of trees. DSWD FO Caraga employees composed of the SLP-Regional Program Management Office, SLP Agusan del Norte Cluster, Social Marketing Section, and selected FO support staff participated in the activity as well.
Aside from DSWD staff, personnel from Butuan CENRO and a few barangay officials also took the time to join the event and planted trees.
Further, the FO eyes to officially adopt the area provided by the barangay to regularly monitor the trees that were planted and conduct more tree-growing activities in the future. For now, discussions regarding this partnership project are in progress to ensure that the project will be sustained and thrive.
“This is called a tree-growing activity because we want this to become not just an activity, but a project. This is a long-term investment to increase the Field Office’s participation in the protection and restoration of the environment,” Jamen stressed.
The tree-growing activity was followed by an information drive. In this event, the Social Marketing Section of the Field Office explained and shed light to 50 Barangay Mandamo officials, workers, and purok leaders of the different programs and services of the Agency.
During the info drive, inquiries to programs such as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens Program, and Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations were also addressed.
Richard Otero, Sangguniang Kabataan Chairperson of Mandamo, expressed that he appreciated the initiative of the DSWD-SLP to conduct such activity.
Otero said, “As the voice of the youth of Barangay Mandamo, I commend the efforts of the DSWD-SLP to show care to the environment and to disseminate correct information even in the midst of the pandemic.”
Formerly known as the Self-Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran or SEA-K, the Sustainable Livelihood Program came to life when former DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman signed the Administrative Order No. 11, S. 2011 or the Guidelines on the Implementation of the Sustainable Livelihood Program on June 28, 2011. SLP is an upgraded and enhanced version of the SEA-K which primarily aims to provide livelihood opportunities to communities, at the same time empowering them through capacity-building activities.
