Assessment of the Sustainable Livelihood Program – Employment Facilitation Track

Year Published: 2016

Conducted By: Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS)

The study aims to assess the implementation to the Employment Facilitation Track and determine the primary reasons for the low take-up rate. It also looks into the design and service delivery of SLP and the partnership between the SLP staff and the other stakeholders and reviews outcomes of program in terms of the level and nature of employment provided to targeted beneficiaries.

Summary of Findings:

• Getting employment or expanding livelihood would provide additional income to the beneficiaries on top of the incentives provided to them by the social safety net policies.
• There are contextual and personal issues such as distant jobs, limited job opportunities, physical attributes and family responsibilities that affect participant’s choice of SLP track and program modality.
• Weaknesses in program design such as: funding issues, weak employment partnerships, and perverse incentives could distort beneficiary choices.
• Employment-directed trainings showed positive results with participants mainly the youth and with higher probability of employment for those trained since these trainings were linked to specific jobs.
• The PESO provides a good platform for SLP in cases when the PESO is functioning, that is, the agency is active in getting local employment. Otherwise, a non-active PESO also results in a non-functioning DSWD and PESO partnership.
• The matching of labor demand and supply is the bigger challenge for DSWD PDOs specifically as SLP-EF performance is based on the number of participants with employment of at least three months.