To recognize the Local Government Units’efforts in providing services and assistance to poor families, the Department of Social Welfare and Development through the Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) will be conducting the first-ever Gawad Listahanan or the Data Utilization Awards this year. Furthermore, this activity is aimed at promoting the convergence of all social protection stakeholders on the identified poor based on Listahanan’s first round assessment conducted way back in 2009, to effectively address the different aspects of poverty.
Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) is an information management system that the government uses in identifying who and where the poor are and is being spearheaded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development. It aims to address poverty reduction through a scientific and target-focused strategy.
The Data Utilization Awards is open to Municipal Government, City Government, and Provincial Government. The Local Government Units will be nominated to the competition provided that they have an active Memorandum of Agreement with DSWD in Listahanan Data Sharing,must have funded and implemented social protection programs and services providing direct service to the Listahanan identified-poor, must have been able to integrate Listahanan in all its social marketing activities, raising the awareness on the use of the targeting system in identifying beneficiaries of social protection programs and services, and lastly,the local government unit should be 100% compliant to the required feedback report as stipulated in the Memorandum of Agreement.
In Northern Mindanao,validation of LGU nominees have been conducted in preparation for the final selection of the regional nominees for the three categories. This awarding will be conducted every year starting this 2014.

Written by Mitzie Santiago, DSWD