DSWD, DTI extend assistance to pandemic-affected MSMEs

Posted on March 17, 2022

DSWD-SLP Partnership Focal Reino Alampayan (1st person from R), DTI Caraga Regional Director Gay Tidalgo (2nd person from R), and officials from DTI Surigao del Sur, Local Government Unit of Carmen and Lanuza, hand over the livelihood assistance grant to one of the 24 beneficiaries of the DSWD SLP Livelihood Assistance Grant and DTI Pangkabuhayan para sa Pagbangon at Ginhawa last March 10, 2022.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office Caraga, in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Caraga, distributed livelihood assistance to 165 micro, small, medium enterprise (MSME) beneficiaries in Carmen and Lanuza, Surigao del Sur, Cabadbaran City, Agusan del Norte, and Surigao City, Surigao del Norte, recently.

Through DSWD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program, each of the beneficiaries received an amount of Php 15,000 as Livelihood Assistance Grant (LAG). LAG is a recovery program of the DSWD-SLP that aims to extend financial assistance to low-income individuals and families whose livelihoods have been severely affected by the pandemic.

In Surigao City, Surigao del Norte, about 59 MSME beneficiaries received the Livelihood Assistance Grant. Present during the release of grants were DTI Caraga Regional Director Gay Tidalgo (3rd person from L), SLP Provincial Coordinator of Surigao del Norte Jhunrey Betonio (2nd person from L), SLP RPMO Technical Staff Mary Joy Solon (1st person from L), and City Officials of Surigao City.

Prior to the endorsement of the beneficiaries to the DSWD-SLP, these recipients have been profiled under DTI’s Pangkabuhayan sa Pagbangon at Ginhawa (PPG) Project – a livelihood seeding and entrepreneurship development program which aims to assist individuals and families affected by calamities, including health-related disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

To ensure that the recipients are well-equipped to administer their desired micro-enterprises, DTI Provincial Offices conducted skills training on financial management for the beneficiaries to guide them on how to plan, manage, and study the financial and economic aspects of their livelihood.

Renalyn Kindica, one of the 165 beneficiaries from Surigao del Sur who had received the assistance, shared that she is grateful to the DSWD-SLP and DTI-PPG for providing them with additional capital for her small business.

Renalyn Kindica, one of the beneficiaries of the livelihood assistance grant from DSWD-SLP and DTI-PPG, shows the financial aid she received which she will use as additional capital for her micro-enterprise.

“Labis po akong nagpapasalamat na naging benepisyaryo kami ng mga programa ng gobyerno tulad nito dahil magagamit namin ang tulong na ito bilang additional capital sa pagpapalago ng aking negosyo (I’m immensely thankful that I’ve been chosen as one of the beneficiaries of the government’s program because I’ll be able to use this aid as additional capital in expanding my business),” Kindica said.

On December 2, 2021, the DSWD Field Office Caraga and DTI Caraga inked a memorandum of understanding for this livelihood convergence project between the Sustainable Livelihood Program and Pangkabuhayan sa Pagbangon at Ginhawa Project. This project is set to transpire from December 2021 until December 2023..###(Social Marketing Section/DSWD Field Office Caraga)