The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has signed two partnership agreements with private organizations to strengthen the country’s mandate of social work practice.
The first agreement highlights the partnership of the DSWD with the Association of Foundations (AF) and the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF) to further improve the regulatory mandate of the DSWD through continuous policy formulation, standards development, and the provision of technical assistance to Social Welfare and Development Agencies (SWDAs).
The partnership also ensures the support of AF and LCF to the learning interventions and activities of the DSWD Academy that are geared towards the advancement of the social work practice.
Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the DSWD Academy will need the expertise of the two organizations to further capacitate small non-government organizations (NGOs) and SWDAs.
AF chairperson Ma. Gisela Tiongson welcomed the partnership saying, “We are certain that our initiatives will be better aligned with the government, as we seek to complement and level up each other’s work.”
For the second agreement, Gatchalian has signed a deal with the University Hotel (UH), a lodging and catering venue in the University of the Philippines – Diliman, to ensure the continuity of the conduct of capacity-building activities and trainings while the DSWD Academy is undergoing renovation until the first semester of 2024.
Hotel operations manager Melvin Gomez and marketing department Chief Ma. Terrisa Estidola represented the UH.
Also present to witness the MOU signing were DSWD standards and capacity building group (SCBG) undersecretary Denise Florence Bernos-Bragas; assistant secretary for SCBG Janet Armas, assistant secretary for partnerships building and resource mobilization, lawyer Ana Maria Paz Rafael; standards bureau (SB) director, lawyer Megan Therese Manahan, social welfare institutional development bureau (SWIDB) director lawyer Justin Caesar Anthony Batocabe, AF executive director Mr. Norman Joseph Jiao, and LCF board treasurer Ms. Marie Angeles.