The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office-II (DSWD FO2) gains more support from the Cagayan State University (CSU) Piat Campus through the “Earn While You Learn” (EWYL) program recently.

This is a program committed by the CSU-Piat Director Vicente S. Binasoy to the Pantawid beneficiaries during the Convergence Roadshow of DSWD Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Juliano-Soliman in Piat, Cagayan.

“I was inspired with the true stories on how the Pantawid Pamilya and Sustainable Livehood program brought substantial change to the lives of these beneficiaries. Our campus will provide help to uplift the lives of these families through the Earn While You Learn (EWYL) program”, Dir. Binasoy said.

The EWYL is a program committed by the CSU for the children of Pantawid who are enrolled at the CSU to have a “Good Agricultural Practice” wherein they will integrate organic vegetable farming and growing of livestock while studying. A demo farm shall be allotted for them for this purpose and will spend Saturdays for the learning process.

In addition, CSU Piat will help the beneficiaries enhance their knowledge in farming as well as provide agricultural lot for the planting of vegetables and other crops.

Dir. Binasoy also added that, “We hope that through this program of the Pantawid beneficiaries, their children, will be encouraged to cultivate the land and generate income while studying, thus, contributing to the income of their families.”

The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the EWYL  between DSWD and CSU Piat will be worked out sometime this September.

There is also a continuous coordination with the Department of Agriculture (DA)-Agricultural Technology Institute (ATI) for the provision of the seeds and live stocks, among others.

On the latter part of the visit, Sec. Soliman expressed her gratitude to the CSU and other partners in helping the Department in elevating the lives of the poor families. ###By: Ailyn P. Aglaua, Admin. Assist. III, NHTS-PR