The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office 5 through Listahanan conducted a one-day orientation to Local Chief Executives, Municipal Social Welfare Officers and Municipal Planning and Development Officers. This was simultaneously done last December 16-19, 2013 in the provinces of Masbate, Catanduanes, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Albay and Sorsogon.

The activity aims to give updates on the upcoming 2nd round of household assessment and promotion of the Listahanan’s database.

Listahanan is the country’s information system that identifies who and where are.It makes available to the national government agencies and social protection stakeholders a pioneer database consisting of comprehensive information about poor families nationwide.

It can be recalled that DSWD conducted the first assessment in 2009 where 461, 242 poor households were identified in Bicol region out of 775, 014 households assessed region wide.

The 2^nd round of household assessment will be held 1^st -2^nd quarter of next year and will cover 1.08 million households in both rural and pockets of poverty in urban areas in Bicol region.

Pockets of poverty refers to areas  where the cluster of poor households reside.

Enhancements for the 2014 assessment

Regional Field Coordinator Joy Belen III said that for next year’s assessment, DSWD will use android tablets instead of paper and pencil for urban areas as the primary data collection tool in urban areas. However, due to the absence of a reliable internet connection, enumerators assigned in rural areas will continue to use paper and pencil.

Another enhancement is the inclusion of the barangay community characteristics derived from the 2009 Census of Population and Housing (CPH). The barangay profiling will serve as determinants of poverty status in the new PMT model.

Listahanan will also be able to classify occupation of family members into 431 specific categories consistent with the Philippine Standard Occupation Classification (PSOC).

The new PMT model will also use the non-income variables such as housing features, family assets and access to water and sanitation facilities, among others which were sourced out from 2009 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) and Labor Force Survey (LFS) as income predictors.

The result of the 2nd nationwide assessment is expected to become available in 10-12 months, after the data has been finalized with the results of validation.

Local Government Unit Engagement

Participation of LGUs in the household assessment process is highly encouraged.
Likewise, in assisting the field staff in assessment of households in hard-to-reach areas, providing information and acting as members of Local Verification Committees (LVC’s) in their respective municipalities.

“That is why as early as now we are coordinating with the LGU’s to have proper coordination before the conduct of household assessment and also to get recommendations/suggestions from the ground on how we can be more effective in the next implementation” said Razo, Policy & Plans Division head.

In the forum, the LGU’s showed their support and cooperation to the program. In fact some LGU’s wanted to give their counterpart field staff to accompany the enumerators to ensure that all of their constituents be assessed.
They also appreciated the DSWD’s effort in strengthening the partnership to the LGU’s and welcomes whatever involvement they can extend in the next assessment.