Field Office CAR

BAGUIO CITY—To further understand their responsibilities and functions, members of the City Grievance Committee (CGC) attended a GRS meeting and orientation with Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) partners.

Headed by the Office of the City Social Welfare and Development Officer (OCSWDO), the meeting was conducted at the OCSWDO Silungan Center Conference Hall last Feb. 18.

The said meeting was attended by the barangay captains of 4Ps barangays, parent leaders and representatives from the Baguio Health Department who were oriented on the mechanics of the GRS.

The GRS is a tool which serves as the venue to facilitate due process in resolving complaints and grievances related to program implementation. It also aims to capture data on vulnerabilities in the program implementation to effect refinements and improvements.

The system empowers communities and civil society to oversee and ensure accountability in program implementation. Beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the program may submit their grievances through a grievance form, which they may submit to the municipal links, or to a complaint box available in the municipal office, provincial social welfare and development office and in the regional office.

4Ps is the national poverty reduction program of the government that aims to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty by investing on human capital. Beneficiaries are given cash grants on education and health for as long as they comply with the program’s conditionalities.

Currently, 10 barangays from Baguio City are covered by 4Ps. More than P5 million worth of cash grant has been given to 662 beneficiaries of the City as of December 2009. A meeting will be held on March 4 to formalize the creation of the City Grievance Committee members.### jebescalante 02/23/10