The child development workers in Dao town in Capiz were identified as the priority sector for livelihood interventions of their local government unit in 2019. In August of that year, the CDW Livelihood Association, composed of 28 members with two solo parents among them, was established.
The association received a seed capital fund amounting to P420,000.00 for the establishment of a community store funded by DSWD-Sustainable Livelihood Program. The association chose a community store as their enterprise for it can offer essential products necessary for everyday living.
Four months after, the association was able to open their physical store situated in the Dao Public Market in Barangay Balucuan. Unfortunately, the group were also among the victims of Typhoon Ursula that struck the province on Christmas Day that year. The community store was badly damaged and most of their products went bad.
To utilize the remaining products from the store, the association just decided to distribute to their members the usable/edible goods. They also sold other items at lower prices just to recover their capital. This has brought a great loss to the association that reached about P50,000.00.
Despite all of this, the association tried their best to get back on track and recover from their losses. The enterprise started to peak and the association finally gathered considerable income since the start of their operations in December 2019.
CDW Livelihood Association has made the members unite and accept each other despite of their differences and view of life. They conduct monthly meetings mainly for the reporting of financial status. This is to instil the value of transparency and to address issues and concerns. It helps them develop the spirit of cooperation and care for each other as family. It also taught them on how to be responsible and to believe in the potentials they possess and improvement they can make.
“Ang amon handom nagapadayon nga ang amon negosyo maga-umwad kag magsanyog para makabulig pa gid sa amon asosasyon kag sa amon pamilya. Kag dako gid amon pasalamat sa DSWD-SLP, sa paghatag sa amon sang bulig kaangay sini (Our dream is continuously becoming to a reality as our enterprise is developing and is helping our association as a whole and our families. We are grateful for this assistance given to us by the DSWD-SLP),” says the association President, Laarnie F. Buizon.
Laarni is a CDW at Mapulang Bato Day Care Center. She receives a monthly honorarium of P4,500.00 that directly goes to their family’s needs and other household expenses. According to her, their life before she became a part of the DSWD-SLP is hard due to financial difficulties and they always lack resources.
She met Sustainable Livelihood Program through the Office of Municipal Social Welfare and Development of Dao, Capiz where she was identified as one of the eligible participants to engage in the livelihood programs of the DSWD.
“Maayo gid ang programa sang DSWD-SLP kay nakabulig gid sa amon nga mga Child Development Workers kag sa amon pamilya paagi sa paghatag sa amon sang dugang nga palangitan-an (DSWD-SLP is a very good program because it has helped us, the Child Development Workers and our families, through the provision of livelihood assistance that gave us another way of earning additional income),” she added.
Concluding, Ms. Laarni said, “Tungod sang sini nga proyekto, may yara na kami subong nga ginapalapitan kag nagabulig sa amon kinahanglanon sa ti-on sang kinawad-on (Because of this project, we now have a venue where we can go to and help us in our needs especially in our most difficult times).”#