The Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) successfully inaugurated the projects of five (5) sustainable livelihood associations (SLPAs) under the Zero Hunger-Program Convergence Budgeting Projects (PCB) no. 8, the Urban Poor Livelihood and Initiatives for the Transformative Change (UPLIFT-Change) for Community-Based Organizations.

The five associations are San Pio-SLPA from Talisay City, Sitio Lub-ang Pangkabuhayan-SLPA in Mandaue City, Casia Pangkabuhayan-SLPA in Lapu-Lapu City, Quiot Hills Panginabuhian-SLPA in Cebu City, and Tadtaran Vendors SLPA in Toledo City.

“Wala man gyud mi nag expect nga matinuod kini, pero paningkamotan namo nga magmalungtaron kini among tindahan (I never expected this to come true, but we will strive hard to make this sustainable),” shared Mr. Reynaldo Bautista, President of Casia Pangkabuhayan-SLPA in Lapu-Lapu City, during the inauguration of their general merchandise.

The association comprises 29 members, who primarily earn their living through food vending, e-bike transport, and scavenging. The hope of uplifting their status has been every resident’s dream even before they started organizing their association. Now their dreams have slowly become a reality.

The Zero Hunger-PCB project no. 8, the UPLIFT-Change is a collaboration between the Sustainable Livelihood Program of DSWD, the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP), the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). This aims to provide harmonized capability-building and livelihood interventions to urban poor households and improve their socio-economic conditions by linking the participating community-based organizations to prospective private and government markets.

The local government unit also plays a vital role in the implementation, monitoring, and provision of technical assistance, especially if the associations need help in managing their businesses.

Each association received a Php 435,000.00 grant, which totaled Php 2,175 million. ###

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