SOCIAL Welfare and Development Secretary Rex Gatchalian and Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Hae Kyong Yu led the launch of the Social Protection, Inclusion, and Gender Equality (Spring) Program during the 2024 Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Partnership Forum at the Space at One Ayala in Makati City on Thursday.
Spring was a collaborative project of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia and the DSWD.
Its P1.5 billion investment would be used over five years to develop systems and institutions for social protection and gender mainstreaming, as well as promoting disability and indigenous rights.
“The development side of the department tends to be the more unglamorous side of it because it is a very long game to get people out of poverty,” Gatchalian said.
“But programs like Spring actually make it into reality. It speeds things up,” he added.
Gatchalian said the program’s goal was to ensure that policies are not only formulated but also implemented in context-specific and sustainable ways.
It would build the technical skills of DSWD workers in aiding members of vulnerable sectors.
“It combines what we already have — the heart — and it adds the technical skills to it,” Gatchalian said.
Yu said the Australian government was proud of the endeavor.
“I can’t wait to see this being integrated by our wonderful partners — the DSWD and many other agencies that are promoting gender equality and social inclusion,” he added.
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