All of the 132 Local Government Units (LGUs) in Central Visayas region have institutionalized the Family Development Session (FDS).

“We commend all the LGUs who passed a local policy either an Executive Order or a Sangguniang Bayan resolution in strengthening FDS in their locality,” said DSWD-7 OIC Regional Director Rebecca Geamala.

“Through the local policy, we would be able to utilize and tap various subject matter experts. For example, if the FDS module is about health and nutrition, the right person to discuss is the local nutritionist-dietician, if the topic is about fire prevention, we can call the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) for this and if it is about peace and order in the community, the local police would have the chance to discuss this topic to them,” Geamala added.

The FDS team at the city or municipal level are tasked to function in planning and conducting the FDS like facilitating as resource persons based on the set schedule and crafting or enhancing modules based on the needs of the partner-beneficiaries. The FDS team may be composed of the members of the Local/Municipal Advisory Committee, City/Municipal Action Team, partner Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and other partner stakeholders.

“We further encourage all LGUs to strengthen the FDS team so that we can provide other interventions to our 4Ps partner-beneficiaries. Through the FDS, we can impart to them valuable information which they can use for their family and this will benefit the whole community,” said Geamala.

FDS is the venue for Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) partner-beneficiaries to enhance and acquire new skills and knowledge in responding to their parental roles and responsibilities particularly on health and nutrition, education and psychosocial needs of children; promotion of positive family values; and strengthening marital relationships.

Attending the FDS is one of the conditionalities of Pantawid Pamilya. The FDS employs neighborhood-based family psycho-educational activities to promote, empower and nurture families towards strengthened capacity so they could meet their familial and parental responsibilities as well as participate in community development activities.

The FDS provides a package of learning modules which include; Concepts and Design of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, Responsible Parenthood and The Family and the Community.

Other developed and enhanced modules are on Active Citizenship, Family and Community-based Disaster Preparedness, Hunger and Food Insecurity Mitigation, Child Sexual Abuse Prevention, Positive Discipline and Youth Development Sessions (YDS).

The 4P’s is a program of the national government that invests in the health and education of poor households primarily of children aged 18 and below.

It provides cash grants to compliant household beneficiaries with health grant worth Php 500 and educational grants worth Php 300 and Php 500 each to the children studying in elementary and high school, respectively. The beneficiaries

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