Helping families and children in difficult circumstances thru Modified CCT

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
September 15, 2012

TACLOBAN CITY  –  The government is expanding further the poverty reduction program- Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) in order to reach out to families and children in difficult circumstances and in need of special protection.

DSWD Region 8 Director Leticia Diokno informed that with the emerging and increasing concern of families who need special protection, the Department of Social Welfare and Development is implementing the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer.

Director Diokno said the modified CCT is designed to really increase the reach of the CCT to help families and children in difficult circumstances overcome their situation and mainstream them into the regular CCT program or commonly known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program while generating appropriate sources and income in the community.

She said the target beneficiaries or families in this program are those families who are displaced from their homes due to different situations such as victims of man-made and natural-made calamities, IP migrant families, informal settlers pursuing for better economic opportunities, and families with children in need of social protections such as children with disabilities, street children, out-of-school, child labor, abandoned and abused including those who were victims of other forms of exploitation.

Director Diokno said these families are not currently covered by the regular CCT and were not assessed by the DSWD’s National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction which is the agencies’ database management unit.

The objectives of the Modified CCT are: to bring back children from the streets to more suitable, decent and permanent homes and reunite with their families; bring back children to schools and facilitate their regular attendance including access to Alternative Delivery Mode and other special learning modes; facilitate availment of health and nutrition services through regular visit to the health center; enhance parenting roles through attendance to Family Development Sessions (FDS); to mainstream families with children in need of special protection for normal psycho-social functioning through Pantawid Pamilya Program.

Just like the regular Pantawid Pamilya, Director Diokno said, the beneficiaries of the Modified CCT must follow certain conditionalities such as weekly attendance to FDS for the first two months; once a month attendance to FDS for the succeeding months and family counseling sessions; attendance to Alternative mode of learning or formal schools; visit to health centers; and residing in a permanent home after six months of social preparation.

With the implementation of the Modified CCT, DSWD is also strengthening its partnership with the different Civil Society Organizations. The DSWD looks forward to its partners, the different CSOs for the MCCT implementation.

The CSOs will select any of the three types of partnership in implementing the modified CCT. CSO-run modified CCT is one of the types of partnership where in the operational implementing cost will be transferred to CSO and shall undertake the whole process of identification of beneficiaries to enrollment and delivery of support intervention.

The modified CCT as CSO support intervention shall be adopted by the CSO as a support intervention and as part of their rehabilitation plan to the existing family beneficiaries of CSOs.

The last type of partnership is the DSWD-run modified CCT (Mobilizing Individual CSO members) in this type of partnership, DSWD will fully implement the modified CCT, and CSOs participation will be limited in the form of direct hiring of CSO members in their individual capacity as temporary contract workers on activity basis.