CALAPAN City– The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) MiMaRoPa through the Sustaining Intervention in Poverty Alleviation and Governance (SIPAG) Project provided set of information and communication technology (ICT) equipment amounting to Php 832,000 to nine local government units (LGUs) in Oriental Mindoro last September 11, 2014.

The recipients of the said equipment are the nine SIPAG expansion areas namely: Puerto Galera, Gloria, Pinamalayan, Victoria, Baco, Roxas, San Teodoro, Roxas, Socorro, and the City of Calapan.

SIPAG is a cross-agency collaboration of DSWD, the Department of Health and Philippine Health Insurance Corporation as part of the Social Protection Support Initiative (SPSI) Project.It enables poor households in the province to improve their level of well-being through the convergent delivery of basic social services through an interoperable ICT-supported system.

Set of ICT equipment is composed of desktop computer, printer, flash drives, digital camera and mobile phone with a total amount of Php96, 000.00 per set.

Moreover, DSWD has allocated fund for internet connection until December 2014 to the said municipalities.

According to DSWD Regional Director Wilma Naviamos, the ICT equipment is part of the Department’s effort to facilitate online social case study, including:  tracking of referrals, tracking of movement in the level of well-being and faster retrieval of case details.

SIPAG was pilot-tested in 2011 in the set one areas of Oriental Mindoro.  Set one areas are municipalities with high poverty incidence based on National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) including Bansud, Bongabong, Bulalacao, Mansalay, Naujan and Pola.

Social workers of the nine expansion areas will undergo an intensive training next month to fully capacitate them for the use of the equipment particularly in the preparation of e-social case management###