CALINTAAN ADVOCACY ON REVITALIZING EDUCATION EMPOWERMENT

AND RE-INFORCEMENT (CAREER) PROGRAM FOR

PANTAWID PAMILYA YOUTH

*Dr. Maricris M. Usita, Ms. Marichu G. Castro, Dr. Ronald Francis C. Sanqui,
Dr. Mylene P. Sanqui,, Ms. Aida E. Bergonia, Ms. Myrna P. Balleza,
Ms. Flordelisa N. Escultura, Stiffany Lhyka D. Finez
Occidental Mindoro State College
College of Arts, Sciences, and Technology

ABSTRACT

The Philippine government shows its serious effort to combat poverty through the
continuing expansion of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the Philippines’
version of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program. Poverty is perennial problems faced
by the people in the community.

The Program on Calintaan Advocacy on Revitalizing Education Empowerment and

Re-Enforcement (CAREER) is a partnership program of the College of Arts, Sciences, and
Technology of Occidental Mindoro State College and the Department of Social Welfare and
Development in cooperation with the Local Government Unit of Calintaan, Occidental
Mindoro has an innate desire to Empower the 4P’s Youth and to fight illiteracy for them to
appreciate and value education.

Lessons that were learned from this program were on Youth Empowerment, the Need
for the full support of respected officials from the government, the Establishment of linkages
with the other association and organization to help in the mobilization of resources.

The factors that contributed to the success of the program are the following: support
and assistance of the officials in implementing the program, support of the RDE unit of
OMSC in providing funds is able to impart technologies and services, and the linkages with
other agencies and organizations or associations concerned to the advocacy of the
project/program.

Keywords: Advocacy, Revitalizing, Empowerment, Education, 4P’s

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INTRODUCTION

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is a poverty reduction and social
development strategy of the National Government that provides conditional cash grants to
extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition, and education particularly of
children aged 0-14. The basic common structure of CCTs refers to transferring monetary and
non-monetary resources to the poor or poorest families who have school-aged children on the
condition that they meet certain commitments aimed at improving their capacities (Cecchini
and Madariaga, 2011).

Social Development is used to break the intergenerational poverty cycle through

investments in human capital. It helps to fulfill the country’s commitment to meet the
Millennium Development Goals, namely: (1) eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, (2)
achieve universal primary education, (3) promote gender equality, (4) reduce child mortality,
and (5) improve maternal health.

To prove the serious intent of the government to fight poverty, the social services
allocation is already 34.1 percent of the total budget wherein the first priority is to provide the
basic income, food and nutrition, health and education needs of the poor (NAPC Part 2, 2011)

The 4Ps offers 6,000 pesos annually (P500 per month) for each household and it also
provides 3000 pesos per child for one school year (i.e. 10 months) or 300 pesos per month for
educational expenses. In return, there were several conditions that related to education that
need to be met by beneficiaries such that 3-5-year-old children must attend daycare or
preschool classes at least 85% of the time and 6-14-year-old children must enrol in
elementary or high school and must attend at least 85% of the time.

In this regard, the College of Arts, Sciences, and Technology and DSWD Municipal
link in cooperation with the Local Government Unit of Calintaan are in congruence in their
desire to empower the 4P’s youth and to fight illiteracy among the members of 4Ps. This is
for the youth to be educated, and appreciate the value of education in order for them to finish
their studies and achieve their dreams to improve their lives. This program also attempts to
kee the youth from dropping out of school. As per record reported by the DSWD link (2017)
in Calintaan, there is a high percentage of students not attending school due to child labor and
poverty
.
4Ps youth beneficiaries are the most vulnerable to the dynamics of the program. In
this regard, strategies are being outlined to provide a holistic approach in the promotion of a
positive and healthy lifestyle through values formation and self-awareness. The youth were
exposed to adolescent dynamic lessons such as personal growth, character formation, gender
awareness and sensitivity, and personality development. The sessions were intended to
eventually decrease the number of out-of-school youth and aimed to equip the youth with
necessary knowledge and skills in realizing their full positive potentials.

To utilize the outputs of this extension program as a springboard for further

community development projects and programs, the CAST prepared a program aimed to
improve the literacy of the students in Calintaan, thus the Program on CALINTAAN
ADVOCACY ON REVITALIZING EDUCATION EMPOWERMENT AND RE-
INFORCEMENT (CAREER) was launched. The offshoot of this extension project shall be a
helping tool for the youth become an implementing arm of development in the community.

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OBJECTIVES

This paper presents the extension approaches and strategies used in improving the
lives of the 4P’s Youth in Calintaan, Occidental Mindoro. Specifically, this intends to:

1. describe the strategies employed in the conduct of extension activities;

2. enumerate the interventions conducted and technologies promoted to address the
needs of DSWS 4Ps Youth;
3. evaluate the effectiveness of the program conducted;
4. enumerate the problems encountered and actions taken;
5. enumerate the lessons learned to sustain the program; and
6. present the contributory factors in relation to the success of the program.

METHODOLOGY

The Occidental Mindoro State College- College of Arts, Sciences, and Technology as
an institution for higher learning is mandated to conduct community-based extension
programs. The program started with a meeting with the DSWD link of Calintaan, Occidental
Mindoro which a former student of OMSC and a registered social worker, Ms. Hitchon one
of the municipal link assigned in Calintaan. The College together with the students
conducted PRA and consultative meetings with the local government unit and DSWD to
discuss further the details of the program proposal. After a series of meeting with the LGU
and DSWD Calintaan, Occidental Mindoro, the Program on CALINTAAN ADVOCACY ON
REVITALIZING EDUCATION EMPOWERMENT AND RE-INFORCEMENT (CAREER)
was crafted.

Collaborative efforts with concerned officials and employees from both the LGU and
DWSD were undertaken in launching the program. Series of consultation meetings were
conducted since March 2018. The DSWD was happy for the help extended by OMSC CAST
because they were mandated to conduct the same activities.

The CAST Dean proposed a training design incorporating the rationale, objectives,
budget allocation for both parties and seek the help of the institution thru the Research,
Development and Extension Office for the approval of the training design. The approved
training design was forwarded to DSWD Calintaan for validation and verification. After their
approval and the approval of the MSWD for their assistance regarding the food for the
participants the MOA signing followed and was held at the DSWD Office Calintaan. The
program development, IEC materials development, and the implementation proper was
properly implemented.

Lectures, games, activities, video presentation, mentoring, focus group discussion,

and demonstration were utilized during the conduct of the seminar workshop and this serves
as a great help in achieving the success of the program.

Figure 1 shows the strategies employed in the different phases namely: situational
analysis, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the program. This
strategies is a helpful tool in implementation before and after the conduct of the program.

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Fig. 1. Strategies Employed

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Strategies Employed in the Implementation of the CAREER Program

In the implementation of the CAREER in different Barangays and Sitios of Calintaan,

Occidental Mindoro, the following were accomplished:

Conduct of the Situational Analysis

Participatory Rapid Appraisal was conducted to assess the issues, not only for the 4Ps
youth but also as well for an in-depth analysis of the situation.

Using the participatory approach, the primary and secondary data coming from
DSWD through data sharing were gathered. This was also utilized to identify the participants
per Barangay and Sitios.

Conduct of Thorough Planning

PRA results served as the baseline data in conducting a thorough planning. Primarily,
a three-year plan of action was made in order to attain the goals of CAREER Extension
Program. Specific objectives were answered through the different activities. During this
stage, participants were identified, resources were listed, and the time frame was set. The
Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signing was done to further facilitate the implementation
of the activities and in order for both parties to be guided on their responsibilities and role
during the conduct and accomplishment of the program.

Implementation

The CAST Extension Unit worked in collaboration with the DSWD Calintaan and the
Local Government Unit. This paved way to the establishment of a linkage partnership, had
tried their very best in strictly following the time frame based from the action plan, although

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being constrained with some unforeseen situations that occurred which were beyond the
control of the implementers.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Since the launching of the program was done recently, the monitoring process will be
done semi-annually. The DSWD is strictly implementing their monitoring and evaluation
process to all the youth of 4P’s and in accordance to this monitoring process for the growth
and development of the CAREER program, terminal reports were also made as the basis of
the outcomes of the program.

Interventions conducted and technologies/services rendered

The CAREER program which was officially launched last May 24, 2018, is still in
progress. The programs and projects were primarily addressed and the most pressing issues
which were identified in the PRA. Table 1 shows the different interventions introduced to the
4P’s Youth of Calintaan that they can utilize to understand their selves and to relate these
topics on how they will value education in order to have a better life.

Table 1. An intervention conducted and technologies/services rendered.

AREA Technologies/Services Rendered
Personal Growth Values Formation
Self-Awareness
Interpersonal Relationship
Importance of Education
Character Formation Emotional Intelligence Awareness
Stress Management
Art of Effective Listening
Time Management
Gender Awareness and Sensitivity Building Self Identity
Gender and Development
Gender Equality and Equity
Gender and Education
Personal Development Personal Development
Human Rights
Ethics
Motivation to Learn

Effectiveness of the Program

Table 2 presented the result of the assessment of the respondents and data shows the
level of effectiveness on the conduct of the program as evaluated by the participants as
indicated by overall mean of 4.51 considered very high. Moreover, participants also
evaluated the content of the program very high as listed on the following: the content was
organized and easy to follow (4.53) because the trainers were knowledgeable (4.55) and they
identified and followed the objectives of the training (4.58). Also, the training provided the
participants’ present needs (4.52).
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 Participants also had a high level of assessment to other factors such as the
appropriateness of the training venue (4.28), there is an adequate time was provided for
question and discussion (4.46) and participation and interaction were encouraged (4.50).
Overall, majority of the participants had a very high level of assessment to the aspects
of the conducted seminar and workshop. Therefore, the extension program is necessary,
timely, helpful, and useful because the trainer met the training objectives (4.57), there is
healthy and enough foods for the participants (4.51), and pertinent and useful materials were
distributed properly (4.59).
As stated in their evaluation that the program was timely and useful for all they 4P’s
youth, feedback from the participants was a great help in improving the program, this is also
a manifestation of the importance of the said activities. This endeavour helped the youth
develop their personal to be a better individual responsible to their actions within their
communities.
Table 2. Summary of Participants’ Assessment on the Effectiveness of the CAREER Program
Criteria Mean Interpretation
1. The training met my expectations. 4.52 Very High
2. I will be able to apply the knowledge I learned. 4.50 Very High
3. The training objectives for each topic were identified and 4.58 Very High
followed.
4. The content was organized and easy to follow. 4.53 Very High
5. The materials distributed were pertinent and useful. 4.59 Very High
6. The trainers were knowledgeable. 4.55 Very High
7. The trainers met the training objectives. 4.57 Very High
8. Participation and interaction were encouraged. 4.50 High
9. Adequate time was provided for question and discussion. 4.46 High
4.52 Very High
10. The training was timely for my needs.
11. The food served was enough and healthy. 4.51 Very High
12. The venue was appropriate for the training. 4.28 High
13. Total performance of the training 4.51 Very High
Legend: 0.50-1.50-Very low; 1.51-2.50-Low; 2.51-3.50-Moderate;
3.51-4.50-High; 4.51-5.00-Very high

Problems Encountered and Actions Taken

In the course of the program implementation, the following problems were

encountered and corresponding solutions were made:

The inconsistent schedule was quite a problem due to the distance of travel from San
Jose to Calintaan. The transportation vehicle also posed as a problem that led to delays of the
activities. The availability of speakers and assistants who handled the discussion did not
match with the number of 4P’s youth participants since it was conducted during summer. To
address this, the Dean requested an additional private vehicle from the faculty to extend their
assistance and support. She also asked the assistance and help of the social work and

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development communication students who served as student facilitator during the conduct of
the seminar-workshop.

There was limited number of hours for the seminar-workshop according to the request
by participants. It was explained to them that the approved program for training was set at 8
hours per day which focused on Personal Growth, Character Formation, Gender Awareness
and Sensitivity, and Personal Development. In relation to their request, there would be
another set of seminar that will focus on their needs.

There was also the unavailability of the original venue requested for the conduct of
the seminar-workshop due to unexpected meetings held at the SB Hall. In this view, the
optional venue has not been conducive due to the warm temperature and environment. To
address this issue, advance and proper scheduling were made to the LGU office to give
priority on the utilization of the SB Hall.

Lessons Learned

The following were the lessons learned from this project;

1. Youth should be empowered to be able to sustain the project introduced to them

by the Extension Unit.
2. Implementation of the project is easier if local officials give their full support.
3. Establishing linkages with the other association and organization can be a big help
in mobilizing resources.
4. An increase in the awareness of the MSWD and DSWD personnel regarding the
Millennium Development Goals should be ensured
5. A need to tap the innate skills and capabilities of the youth as participants to the
improvement of the quality of their lives through the implementation of different
social-economic programs.

Contributory Factors in relation to the success of the Program

The following are numbers of factors perceived to have contributed to the attainment
of the goals and objectives of the program.

1. The willingness and support of the officials of the Local Government Unit and
DSWD, in implementing the project.
2. Support of the RDE unit of OMSC in providing funds is able to impart
technologies and services.
3. Linkages with other agencies or associations were built.
4. Active participation of the youth in different activities.
5. Dedicated faculty and students in implementing the plans.

Conclusions

1. Due to the current statistics of the out-of-school youth in the community, there
was an established need for an empowerment of youth, which should be critically
guided and supported by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and
the local government. Implementation of the project is easier if local officials give
their full support.

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 2. There was a need for the community to start building and establishing linkages
with the other association and organization, which is an effective measure in
ensuring the success of the any community project, especially those that concern
the youth.

3. The MSWD and DSWD personnel are identified to be directly in charge in the
dissemination of information regarding the Millennium Development Goals.

Recommendations

1. There should be a continuous monitoring and evaluation for the effectiveness and
sustainability of the program.

2. Upon observation and as a result of their experience during the project

implementation, the extensionist may come-up with additional seminars for
further development on the skills of the participants and their parents.

References

Cecchini, S. and Madariaga A. (2011). Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes: The Recent
Experience in Latin America and the Caribbean. United Nations Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Chile. United Nations.

Department of Social Welfare and Development. Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program

Briefer. Available online at http://pantawid.dswd.gov.ph/images/stories/briefernew.pdf
Retrieved December 18, 2011.

Department of Social Welfare and Development. December 2011. Pantawid Pamilya

Registers 2.3 Millionth Household Beneficiary. DSWD Social Marketing Service.
Available online at http://www.dswd.gov.ph/index.php/component/content/article/1-
latest-news/2461-- pantawid-pamilya-registers-23-millionth-household-beneficiary
Retrieved December 19, 2011

National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC). National Anti-Poverty Program (2010-2016)

Part 1, Retrieved December 18, 2011, at http://www.napc.gov.ph/National
%20AntiPoverty%20Program/National_Anti-Poverty_Program_Part1.pdf

National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC). National Anti-Poverty Program (2010-2016)

Part 2, Retrieved December 18, 2011 at http://www.napc.gov.ph/National
%20AntiPoverty%20Program/National_Anti-Poverty_Program_Part2.pdf