Northern Mindanao — The Department of Social Welfare and Development here recently awarded Mr. Mario Christian Micabalo of Cagayan de Oro as the regional winner for the Listahanan at Work: Identifying Families in Need of Special Protection Photo Contest.

He was awarded with Php10,000 and a round-trip ticket to Manila to witness the National Launching of the Listahanan Data, with free hotel accommodation. His photo will also be exhibited during the special event.

The Listahanan Photo Contest was aimed at promoting transparency on the process of identifying the poor and raise awareness and understanding on  activities involved in the assessment . This activity  involved an orientation of the assessment  and an excursion in areas where participants took pictures of the actual assessment.

Listahanan  is an information management system that the government uses in identifying who and where the poor are.  As per  Executive Order 867 series of 2010, the assessment will be conducted once every four years.  It is a very vital undertaking as it will define the quality of data and information for the database that will serve as basis for beneficiary selection of national government programs and services for the next four years. The first assessment was done in 2009.

Written by Mitzie S. Santiago, DSWD