DSWD, other agencies ink MOA for Listahanan

By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 11 has forged a partnership with other national agencies and local government units (LGUs) for the second round of Listahanan (formerly known as the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction or NHTS-PR)) this May.
The DSWD 11, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Davao City Social Service and Development Office (CSSDO), Davao City Police Office (DCPO), Traffic Management Center (TMC), and Land Transportation Office (LTO) 11 signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the better implementation of the program.
Listahanan is a database of poor households and is used as reference in identifying beneficiaries of social protection services.
Speaking in a media briefing last Friday, DSWD 11 regional director Priscilla Razon told reporters the partner agencies will help her office in the information dissemination of the program.
“Every signatory has certain responsibilities and commitments to meet as we have to attain this endeavor,” Razon said.
She said DSWD tapped LTO and TMC because these agencies can assist in promoting the program by asking the operators and drivers to post the Listahanan stickers in its jeepney or taxi units.
“The stickers of Listahanan will be posted in the vehicles, public and private. We can reach more if we have the support of the LTO and TMC,” she said.
Razon said the stickers will be distributed in all local government units (LGUs) and barangays in Davao region.
She said DSWD 11 also forged a partnership with other LGUs in the region to provide security to ensure the safety of DSWD personnel who will conduct the listing of the indigent families in their places.
She said the DSWD is now targeting around 8000 families in the region to be listed in the database of Listahanan.
The program is a functional, objective and transparent targeting system that identifies who and where the poor are, thus reducing leakage of social services to non-poor and minimizing exclusion of the poor from said social services.
It serves as guide to national government agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders in identifying qualified beneficiaries of their social protection programs.