SOCIAL REFORM AGENDA POVERTY ALLEVIATION FUND 2 SPECIFIC GUIDELINES FOR BASIC CHILD CARE COMPONENT

I. PURPOSE AND RATIONALE

The first six years of life is considered a critical period being
the formative stage during which children have to be provided with
stimulating and creative opportunities to ensure full attainment of
their potentials. Due to poverty, however, a lot of Filipino children do
not enjoy enough opportunities for early childhood enrichment and
development.

Thus, the need for a day care centers and supplemental feeding
consistently surfaced among the top ten unmet minimum basic needs
(MBNs). Specifically, day care centers are considered as a critical
service for disadvantaged families since both parents have to work to
increase the family income. Similarly, malnutrition among 0-5 years old
Filipino children is one of the manifestations of poverty.

Although the provision of day care centers and supplemental feeding
are among the basic services which were developed to the local
government units, the 5th and 6th class municipalities do not have
enough resources to fully assume these responsibilities.

Thus, the Poverty Alleviation Fund 2 (PAF 2) includes a component
for Basic Child Care, specifically for Day Care Service and Supplemental
Feeding.

II. DEFINITION OF TERMS

1.         Convergence Areas — for the purpose of this
fund, refers to 5th and 6th class municipalities, particularly those
with nationally-coordinated and/or locally-initiated convergence areas
where deliberate synchronization and coordination of SRA resources,
services and interventions by SRA Flagship Programs, LGUs and other
agencies/entities are currently focused. Specifically, these are the
following: Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs); Priority Bays and Lakes
(PBLs); Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claims (CADCs); Comprehensive
and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (CIDSS); Urban Areas,
Resettlement Sites and Growth Centers (UARGCs); and the Disaster Victims
and Resettlement sites (DVRS).

2.         Day Care Center — refers to a form of Day Care
Service which provides care during part of the day in a facility in the
barangay to children who are 3-5 years old, by an accredited day care
worker.

3.         Day Care Service — refers to the provision of
supplemental parental care to a 0-5 years old children who may be
neglected, potentially neglected, abused, exploited of abandoned, during
part of the day when the parents cannot attend to their needs.

4.         Minimum Basic Needs (MBW) — refers to survival
(food and nutrition; health; water and sanitation; clothing), security
(shelter; peace and order/public safety; income and livelihood), and
enabling needs (basic education and literacy; participation in community
development; family care/psycho-social) of a Filipino family.

5.         Partner Agency/ies — refers to other agencies
whose technical concerns are directly related to the provision of Day
Care Service and Supplemental Feeding. Specific to this Basic Child Care
component, the partner agencies are she Department of Health (DOH) and
the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS).

6.         Principal Agency/ies — refers to the Department
of Social Welfare and Development which was mandated to take the lead
role on the implementation of PAF-2 program component on Basic Child
Care.

7.         Provincial Entitlement — refers to the maximum
amount of funds available per province which constitute working figures
within which 5th and 6th class municipalities will determine/set their
municipal allocations and activities.

8.         Supplemental Feeding — refers to the provision
of “one hot meal a day” which primarily aims to provide nutritional
supplement to underweight 3-6 years old children.

9.         5th and 6th Class Municipalities — refers to
municipalities classified as based on Department Order No. 35-95 dated
May 25, 1995 of the Department of finance (DOF).

III. PROJECT POLICIES

A.        Participatory Decision-Making – In the spirit of people
empowerment, the principle of participatory decision-making shall be
adopted particularly in the following aspects of project operations.

1.      Identification of Needs: The need for the
day care service and supplemental feeding shall be determined through a
survey of needs, preferably, the minimum basic need (MBN) survey.

2.      Project Development and Management:
Project implementation shall involve an organized parent’s
group/committee at the barangay level. These community structures shall
be responsible for project identification; project development or
preparation of proposal; project management and maintenance; monitoring.

B.        National and Local Government Partnership – The
PAF 2 shall be considered as an augmentation fund since the provision of
day care service and supplemental feeding are among the devolved basic
services. As such, the local government units shall provide counterpart
contributions as indicated in the project protocols. Moreover, the
allocation of funds per municipality and barangay shall be primarily the
responsibility of the provincial and municipal local government units.

C.        Program Standardization – The projects shall be
implemented in accordance with the standards set by the national
implementing agencies. For this purpose, technical assistance shall be
continually provided by the concerned national agencies through
structured and on the — job training as well as through monitoring and
program audit. Any deviations from the national standards shall be
subject to negotiations with the Regional offices of the national
agencies.

IV. PROJECT COVERAGE

A.        Geographical Coverage – The projects shall be
undertaken exclusively in 5th and 6th class municipalities, particularly
those with nationally-coordinated and locally-initiated SRA convergence
areas nationwide.

B.        Sectoral Coverage – Children aged 0-5 years old

C.        Project Area Prioritization – Priority shall be given to non-CIDSS municipalities and/or barangays.

V. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A.        Day Care Service

1.         Organization of Parents Committee: There should be an
organized parents committee to plan for and manage the implementation of
the project. The committee shall be composed of parents, a
representative of the barangay council and a representative of a
non-governmental organization (NGO), if applicable.

The committee will be responsible for the following:

a)      Preparation of the project proposal including submission
of plans and specifications; list of materials and cost estimates;
identification of stores/outlets, etc.; and later, for the production
and repair of program materials.

The proposal shall contain the proponent; proposed site/location;
amount requested; rationale/justification indicating the results of the
MBN survey as one of the top ten unmet needs; committees; work plan.
Attachments to the proposal shall include the deed of lot donation; MOA
between DSWD and LGU; sketch/plan in accordance with the DSWD standard;
community commitments for labor counterpart.

b)      Creation of different sub-committees to be responsible for
specific tasks including the manpower/labor contribution of the
community for the construction of the day care center;

c)       Negotiation with the local government unit for the required LGU counterpart.

2.         Provision of salary subsidy for day care worker:
The hiring of day care worker (DCW) shall be one of the counterpart of
the LGU. However, should the LGU not have enough funds for the payment
of the DCW salary, a salary subsidy of, at most, P1,500.00 may be drawn
from the fund. The municipal local government unit shall be responsible
for the payment of DCW salary for the succeeding years.

3.         Training of DCW : Funding support shall be provided for
the training of the DCW to be conducted by the DSWD regional child
development specialists, in coordination with the LGUs.

4.         Provision of Program materials: To ensure appropriate
delivery of services, each day care center shall be provided with basic
program materials which were approved by the Early Childhood Development
Experts Committee on Review Materials. For this purpose, P2,000.00
shall be allotted per day care center.

5.         Construction of the day care center: A maximum funding
assistance of P150,000.00 shall be provided for the construction of a
day care center or an assistance of P80,000.00 for repair of an existing
center to comply with the standard specifications.

6.         LGU counterpart: The LGU shall provide the following counterpart.

A Memorandum of Agreement among the DSWD Regional offices governors
and municipal mayors shall be executed to contain, among others, the LGU
counterpart and their respective responsibilities.

B.        Supplemental Feeding Program – This is the
provision of “one hot meal a day” which primarily aims to provide
nutritional supplement to underweight 3-6 years old children. Parents
committee/subcommittee are tasked to handle/manage the activity.

1.         Organization of Parents: To help manage the
Supplemental feeding program effectively, the parents shall be organized
into a Committee by the MSWDOs. The committee’s functions shall be as
follows:

a.    Daily budgeting and purchase of food to be cooked;
b.    Preparation of food and cooking in accordance with the 6-week cycle menu;
c.    Gathering and actual feeding of the underweight children;
d.    Monthly weighing and deworming before the feeding;
e.    Conduct of nutrition education and health-related activities in the community.

The MSWDOs shall orient and provide training to the committee
members as well as ensure that they meet regularly. With the assistance
of the MSWDOs, the SF Committee shall prepare the proposal, indicating
the proponent, location, number of target children; amount requested;
rationale specifying malnutrition as among the top ten unmet MBN of the
community; duration; and committee commitments.

Upon approval of the proposal by the DSWD Regional offices based on
endorsement of the LGU, the money shall be released to the municipal
government which shall, in turn release to the Parents Committee to be
deposited in their savings account with the SF Committee president,
treasurer and MSWDOs as signatories. Withdrawals for purchase of food
shall be on weekly or monthly basis, depending on the plan and
capability of the Committee.

2.         Weighing and Deworming: Initial weighing shall
be done prior to the first feeding and every month thereafter to monitor
the nutritional status of the children. The children shall be dewormed
before the first feeding upon advise of the municipal health officer.
The SF Committee shall coordinate with the rural health unit (RHU) for
this purpose. A growth monitoring card/chart shall be used as individual
record of nutritional status to be presented by the parents every
visit.

3.         Actual Feeding: Feeding shall conducted at a
duly-designated feeding center (multi-purpose or barangay hall) for
seven (7) days a week for six (6) months at a cost of P5.00 per day. As
much as possible, the feeding shall be done by cluster of 25-30 children
for manageability.

Purchases shall be made at the local market. In case any of the
ingredients is not available, substitution may be made for as long as
the replacement has the equivalent/similar nutritive value. Liquidation
of expenses shall be done prior to the succeeding withdrawal.

4.         Other Support Services: To complement the
supplemental feeding, the parents shall be trained on homeyard food
production; home food processing; and provided with nutrition education.

VI. LOCALIZATION AND FUND ACCESS PROCESS

A.        Consensus-Building Process – At the national
level, the DSWD shall provide the municipal governments with a
prototypes of the Day Care Service and Supplemental Feeding Program,
which include project description, cost and proposed LGU counterparts.
At the regional, provincial and municipal levels, consensus building for
area allocation shall follow the procedures as stated in the general
guidelines.

B.        Endorsement of the Projects – At the regional,
provincial and municipal levels, the DSWD Regional offices, PSWDOs and
MSWDOs shall be responsible in jointly endorsing the proposals and other
pertinent documents to the DSWD central office.

The DSWD central office shall review and endorse to DBM the work and
financial plan (PAF-2 Form 3) submitted by the Regional offices based
on the agreements made at the local level.

The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to be forged between the local
government units and the DSWD regional offices shall serve as the legal
instrument for the allocation of funds per municipality. As previously
mentioned, the MOA shall contain, among others, the respective roles and
responsibilities of the implementing agencies as well as the LGUs,
including their counterpart.

In the case of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), DSWD
Central Office shall enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with
the DSWD-ARMM through the Office of the Regional Governor (ORG-ARMM),
for the implementation of the projects/programs in the four provinces of
Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur.

C.        Release of Funds – The DBM shall release the
allotment as well as the NCAs through the DSWD regional offices in
accordance with the agreed municipal project allocation mix and the work
and financial plans submitted for the purpose. For ARMM, the NCAs shall
be released directly to the DSWD Central Office which shall, in turn,
release the funds to the ORG-ARMM as cash advance.

The DSWD Regional offices/DSWD-ARMM shall be responsible for the
release of funds to the municipal government as well as monitoring the
utilization of funds. As previously mentioned funds allocation shall be
formalized through the signing of a MOA among the DSWD Regional offices,
governors and mayors.

Actual release of funds, however, shall be contingent on the
submission of a project proposal and other specifications as indicated
in page 4 (in the case of Day Care Service) and page 5 (in the case of
Supplemental Feeding) of this document. Proposals shall be prepared by
the concerned people’s organization with technical assistance from the
MSWDOs. The municipal government shall endorse the proposals to the DSWD
Regional offices for approval and subsequent release of funds.

D.        Project Implementation and Monitoring – The municipal
government, with technical assistance from the DSWD Regional offices and
PSWDOs shall be responsible for implementing PAF-2 projects.

The DSWD Regional offices and PSWDOs shall jointly conduct, at
least, quarterly site-inspections of the projects and report the
accomplishments of these projects to the DSWD Central Office which shall
turn, in turn, forward the report to the SRC PAF-2 Oversight Committee.
For this purpose, the DSWD Central Office shall allocate and release
part of the overhead cost to their Regional offices.

Adopted: 28 April 1997

Approved by:

(SGD.) SEC. LINA B. LAIGO
SRA-CIDSS Flagship Champion
Menu of Project Prototypes