The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) of Central Visayas will evaluate more than a million poor households in the last quarter of 2013.

This is the second time it will identify “poor” and “near poor” families in Central Visayas.

How many families will benefit DSWD’s Listahan?

524,717 families in the Province of Cebu will be evaluated while 240,134 will be from Negros Oriental.

Families that will be evaluated in Bohol will account for 232,625 while Siquijor will have 18,794.

“Through Listahanan we will be able to identify who and where the poor are in the country and the result of our assessment will be our basis in identifying potential beneficiaries of our social protection programs and services,” Regional Focal Person Artemia Degamo said.

“Our trained enumerators will visit the identified household and will assess their socio-economic profile,” Degamo added.

How will DSWD’s Listahan be accomplished?

Information will be gathered through the use of family assessment form (FAF). It will contain a list of 46 identifiable variables in a four-page questionnaire.

In the FAF, enumerators will check the following:

• educational attainment of the members of the household
• materials of their housing structure
• presence of basic services like water, sanitary toilet, and electricity
• occupation of family members
• assets

“I urged families to stay in their house once we deploy our enumerators in their area or at least they should have one family member who can answer the questions from our enumerators,” Degamo said.

Listahan, “Talaan ng Pamilyang Nangangailangan” is a program that is conducted by DSWD every four years and is a vital information management system spearheaded by the national government.