With the successful launching and implementation of the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTSPR) Central Database in 2009, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office IV-MiMaRoPa is now preparing for its second round of regionwide household assessment this September.

Targeting 591,699 households across five island provinces in MiMaRoPa, the DSWD will be deploying field staff to conduct house-to-house interviews as part of the four-year updating of database of poor and non-poor households to establish its integrity and relevance in identifying beneficiaries for various social protection programs.

DSWD will be using a four-paged revised Household Assessment Form (HAF) which is deemed critical to identify the socio-economic status of a household. HAF contains 42 verifiable indicators such as household composition, housing structure, education of household members, material assets and access to basic services.

“We will assess all households in the community particularly those barangays located in rural areas while barangays situated in urban centers are subject for saturation or pockets of poverty depending on the  magnitude of poor households”, says Regional Field Coordinator, Ernie H. Jarabejo.

The collected data will go  through Proxy Means Test (PMT), a statistical formula that estimates the income of households based on the proxy variables in the household assessment form to identify if the household is poor or not.

Moreover, these field staff will undergo series of training to equip them for the conduct of household assessment before they will be assigned in their respective areas. Trainings are scheduled on August to October 2013.

NHTSPR is the result of the Department’s effort to respond to the need of mapping out who and where the poor are nationwide. ###