Butuan City –The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office Caraga conducted the initial workshop on the use of the Do No Harm Quick Check (Mobile) Application, developed through the partnership with Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) or German Development Service, at the Hotel Oazis, Butuan City on October 17, 2019.

The workshop was attended by members of the Caraga Social Welfare and Development Learning Network (SWD L-Net) and DSWD regional workers. The activity aims to capacitate the agency and its partners in the use of the mobile application, which will allow its users to do conflict-sensitivity processes, allowing stakeholders to have minimum standard of practice to avoid causing inadvertent harm during program implementation and delivery of services.

The partnership with GIZ stemmed in response to the request by DSWD Caraga for Capacity Building activities for the agency and the SWD L-Net.  The application development is only a small portion of the capacity building initiatives of GIZ to be extended to the agency and the network. It is part and parcel of a bigger initiative, done in advance to encourage momentum for upcoming broader cooperation on capacity building.

Through the initial partnership, DSWD, GIZ, and the SWD L-Net are hoping to improve peace education module/s for the different programs and services of the agency and its partners, which should hopefully include the topics of Conflict-Sensitivity & Do-No-Harm, and most especially tackle issues on conflict-induced displacement (CID), which are very common in the region.

DSWD and GIZ are hoping that the SWD L-Net, which is a nonprofit learning network that is composed of members from different organizations such as NGAs, NGOs, LGUs, Academes and individuals who are engaged in social development and social protection, would be advocates of Conflict Sensitivity and Do – No – Harm, thus the partnership.

The Mobile application is still for official launching, but prior to this, the application will be pilot-tested both in a controlled environment, and later on, in the field/communities by the DSWD. Once ready, the application will be available for android users through the Google Play Store.