Cagayan de Oro-The Department of Social Welfare and Development is set to reach street families by providing them conditional grants for their children’s education and health.

About 221 families from the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro are said to be under the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer (MCCT), and this is done in coordination with the local government units.

The MCCT-HSF (Homeless Street Families) is a human development program of the national government that focuses on providing cash grants to street families, provided that they comply with certain conditions set by the program.

The conditions include attendance to Family Development Sessions (FDS), health center visits, and their children’s enrollment and attendance to school.

Unlike Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme for eligible poor households, families under MCCT are to attend more often in FDS in the first six months from their registration. The children will also be endorsed to the Alternative Delivery Mode or Alternative Learning System (ALS) programs of the Department of Education should the households find it difficult to send their children to a regular school.

According to Kenneth Sanchez, Program Coordinator of Pantawid Pamilya, the DSWD is now in the process of finalizing the list of these street families in coordination with the local government units of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, wherein the program is being piloted in Northern Mindanao.

Sanchez also added that the Department is now exploring possibilities on how to best implement the MCCT considering the regional context and the homeless conditions of the said families.###smu

 

Written by Charmaine P. Tadlas