A Cebu-based non-government organization (NGO) hailed the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for coming up with a database that identifies the poor in the country.

“I’m really thankful for the DSWD’s Listahanan or National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) because we already have an identified list of poor children and youth. It saved us time in gathering data in the field as this will guide us properly in identifying the poorest of the poor in our community,” said Maria Teresa Reyes-Vargas, executive trustee of Options Inc.

Vargas said that unlike before they have to invest time and effort in gathering list of poor beneficiaries who can avail their scholarship program.

“We had identified 90 out of 100 children from poor families identified by the NHTS-PR who can avail our full scholarship,” Vargas said.

Outreach Program on Training Integral Organizing and Networking for Solidarity (Options) Inc. is a licensed and accredited NGO of DSWD-7 that helps eliminate the worst forms of child labor in Cebu and provides support services for the urban poor families in Mandaue City.

Aside from the full scholarship grants, Options also provide psycho-social and value formation session to the parents of scholars.

SOCIAL PROTECTION

Meanwhile, the Alay Lakad Foundation in Cebu City urged the poor students listed in the database to also avail their scholarship program.

So far, only seven out of 99 students in Cebu City have showed interest in availing the program.

The DSWD in Central Visayas urged other NGOs to use the available database in formulating social protection programs and services for the poor.

Aside from Options Inc. and Alay Lakad Foundation, other organizations like the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. and Euphrasia Parents Association and Development Inc. had also inked an agreement with the DSWD-7 for data sharing and utilization.