By Jennifer T. Pambid
PGIN-CMO
In its effort to accelerate the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDG) in the province by improving the delivery of service
and assistance to the poor, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN) was
recognized by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in its
very first Gawad Listahanan Awards held January 29, 2015.
Gawad Listahanan, or Data Utilization Awards, is
conferred by the DSWD to local government units (LGUs) that have registered the
most number of beneficiaries of their locally-funded programs in the Listahanan
database of poor families through the National Household Targeting System for
Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR).
NHTS-PR is an information management system that makes
available to national government agencies and other social protection
stakeholders a database of poor families as reference in identifying potential
beneficiaries of social protection programs and services.
Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) head
Corazon Lilian Rin personally received a plaque of appreciation and a cash
incentive of P50,000from DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman.
Ms. Rin said Ilocos Norte Gov. Ma. Imelda “Imee” R.
Marcos personally discussed a Memorandum of Agreement with the DSWD Central
Office regarding the use of the NHTS-PR.
“The NHTS-PR database was used by Governor Marcos to
identify the beneficiaries of MDG localization. These families were categorized
into ‘poor,’ ‘middle poor’ and ‘get away poor.’ This was our basis for
prioritizing the poorest families by providing them protective services such as
medical and dental missions, granting animal dispersal and other services,” Ms.
Rin explained.
“Today we have quelled the growth in the poverty numbers,
more importantly we have identified the different segments of the poor here in
Ilocos Norte, particularly identifying the breakthrough poor—the poor who have
in their power the skill and the ability and the commitment to break out of
poverty through their own efforts with just a little help from the public sector.
I am hopeful that the change in the poverty map will continue, having less in
the coastal areas which we saw in 2010 and dwindling numbers in the interior
upland zones,” Ms. Marcos said.
Model
province in poverty reduction
According to Ms. Rin, DSWD Central Office has seen the
significance of the NHTS-PR database in the improvement of the people’s lives
in Ilocos Norte.
Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos distributes tilapia fingerlings to indigent residents of Brgy. Tabucbuc in the municipality of Marcos on July 26, 2014. (Alaric A. Yanos) |
Since 2010, Ms. Marcos has committed to achieving the
primary goals of MDG, the United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) worldwide
initiative to eliminate extreme poverty and promote global partnership for
development.
With the localization of the MDG in the province, the
overall poverty incidence was trimmed down from 12.2% in 2009 into 9% in 2013.
Recognizing this major achievement, Ms. Soliman has cited
Ilocos Norte as the model champion in poverty reduction in Region 1 last year.
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