October 22, 2019 – The National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), also called Listahanan, has commenced with activities in line with the impending start of the 3rd round of Household Assessment in the Cagayan Valley Region.
Field Workers Training
A training/orientation on the endeavor for Area Coordinators (AC) was conducted by Listahanan at Sta. Ana, Cagayan last October 8-11, 2019 which was followed by a training of Area Supervisors (AS) in Tuguegarao City last October 15-18, 2019.
Regional Director Fernando R. De Villa, Jr., in his message to the trained field staff, urged the latter to always gather data that are “sigurado, kumpleto, totoo” to be able to produce a List of Poor Households free from errors and can withstand scrutiny.
Four (4) batches of trainings for Enumerators for the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya shall follow for the rest of the month.
LGU Orientation
An orientation for partner local chief executives and local social welfare and development officers for the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino was also conducted last week for information on what the assessment is about and to elicit support for the implementation of the assessment later on.
Director De Villa, Jr. with assistance from Assistant Regional Director for Operations (ARDO) Lucia S. Alan, Listahanan Regional Focal Person (RFP) Pasencia T. Ancheta and Listahanan Regional Field Coordinator (RFC) Christopher Soriano led the orientation for the said partners.
Not a Social Protection Program
The Listahanan Regional Project Management Office (RPMO) also reiterates that the upcoming assessment of households is not a guarantee of interviewed families/individuals from being part of the programs and services of the DSWD, contrary to news circulating on social media saying otherwise.
The assessment aims to produce the List of Poor Households in the region that will be subjected to a Proxy Means Test (PMT) in the DSWD Central Office to determine households assessed that are living above, below or on the poverty threshold before being cascaded back to the region.
The Final List of Poor Households shall be the basis of the agency and partner National Government Agencies (NGAs) in the identification of beneficiaries for their social protection programs.
Partners LGUs and other parties may also use the list through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed between the DSWD and the requesting party.
The assessment in the region is expected to start in November. ###