Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) conducted a nationwide On-Demand Application (ODA) for its National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) project.

The NHTS-PR identifies who and where the poor are through interviews by trained enumerators using a two-page Household Assessment Form (HAF) containing various indicators.

It aims to establish a socio-economic database of households that will be used in identifying the beneficiaries of national social protection programs.

Through the On-demand application, households who were not previously surveyed by enumerators, but are residents of identified areas covered by NHTS-PR, are given the chance to apply for an assessment to be included in the list of poor households that can be qualified for government social protection program.

On-demand Application is one of the vital activities in the DSWD’s effort to ensure that all qualified poor households are captured in the NHTS-PR database.

Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman called on residents of NHTS-PR covered areas to apply for on-demand application especially if they feel that they are qualified to be included in the list of poor households but have been excluded during the first round of assessment. Meanwhile, a projected number of 1,134,870 households in 920 municipalities and cities all over the country were expected to apply for ODA.

Based on initial reports as of October 18, a total of 1,014,623 households from 821 municipalities and cities have applied for assessment. Out of this number, 717,113 applicants were approved for household assessment. To date, 177,933 of the approved applicants were already assessed.

Applications were received by NHTS-PR area supervisors at designated areas within or near municipal or city halls during scheduled dates. Residents were asked to bring any valid identification card (ID) or proof of residency from the barangay. (October, 2010)