With the aim to reflect on the stories of empowerment of various government programs, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), conducted a Fora on Bottom up Budgeting (BuB) and Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (Pantawid Pamilya) this month.

The said Fora was conducted in all municipalities in the region and participated in by Pantawid Pamilya Parent Leaders, Civil Society Organizations engaged in BuB projects and partner agencies.

The Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries shared the positive impacts of the programs citing that through Pantawid Pamilya and BuB, they realized the importance of empowering themselves to more effectively engage in government programs.

Likewise, action points on how stakeholders can advocate for and support the continuation of these programs were identified along with the updates on the status of institutionalization of CCT.

Bottom up Budgeting an approach in formulating budget proposal of national government agencies taking into consideration the development needs of poor municipalities as identified in their respective Local Poverty Reduction Action Plan (LPRAP) formulated with strong participation of national government agencies, local government units (LGUs), civil society organizations (CSOs) and people’s organizations. ### By: Gela Flor R. Perez, Regional information Officer II