LIVELIHOOD PROGRAM. An officer of the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Sustainable Livelihood Program (DSWD-SLP) association based in Patnongon, Antique, conducts inventory on their community store on Oct. 1, 2023. Kapatiran Inc. president Aquilino Tamondes said in an interview Friday (Dec. 1, 2023) that their grant of PHP410,000 in 2018 that they invested into a micro-enterprise development project grew to PHP4 million. (Photo courtesy of Kapatiran Inc.)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The government’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) has provided employment opportunities and income to poor and vulnerable households in Antique.
The Kapatiran Inc., an association based in Antique, received a PHP410,000 grant under the SLP of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in 2018, which the members used as seed capital for a micro-enterprise development project of rice trading and a community store.
The members belong to the poorest households in Patnongon, beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), and Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (Kalahi) program volunteers.
Each time they refer customers, they earn a PHP15 incentive per client aside from their profit share every quarter.
“Our members receive PHP500-1,000 per quarter as their profit share,” he said.
The association currently has 32 members. Its nine officials manage their rice trading and six community stores at the public market of Patnongon.
The association pays for the premiums of their officials enrolled with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), the Social Security System, and the Home Development Mutual Fund (HMDF) or Pag-IBIG.
Their capitalization is now at PHP4 million, allowing them the leeway to provide emergency loans to its members, especially for their educational needs.
“We have assisted some of our members by providing loans so they could have an amount to buy their needs in school,” he said.
During the pandemic, the association also distributed food packs to its members and the nearby communities in Patnongon.
The Kapatiran Incorporated also purchased an 830 square meters lot along the coastal area of Patnongon, where it intends to build a training center to rent out for training and seminars.
“Our association’s micro-enterprise development project, shall we say, is now established,” he said.
The successful implementation of the program earned them the 2021 Sibol for Market Category national award given by the DSWD.
Sibol is a program that monitors the growth of SLP beneficiaries. (PNA)
