DSWD forges ties with key partners to empower social workers through scholarship grants

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) forged a collaboration with key partners on Wednesday (December 13) that aims to provide further training and education for social services professionals through scholarship grants.

DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mr. Alberto Aldaba Lim, president of the Aldaba-Lim Foundation, Inc. and Prof. Jocelyn T. Caragay, executive director of the University of the Philippines Social Action and Research for Development Foundation Inc. (UPSARDFI).

The MOU signing at the DSWD Central Office in Quezon City formalized the ties between the DSWD, the ALFI, and the UPSARDFI to implement the Aldaba-Lim Memorial Scholarship Program which will fund the graduate studies of selected and deserving social workers of the Department.

“We want to empower our service providers, both internally in government and externally through our social welfare and development agency partners, so that we can operate in the optimal standard that there should be in delivering the social services to our most needy and most vulnerable citizens,” Secretary Gatchalian said in his short speech.

Under the MOU, the ALFI provides scholarship programs and endowment to the UPSARDFI with a grant of Php2.5 million that is expected to benefit some 41 social workers of the DSWD who are pursuing graduate studies or short courses at the UP-College of Social Work and Community Development (UP-CSWCD).

“We are very thankful to the foundation for the endowment for our own service providers who will venture into further studies,” Secretary Gatchalian said.

In his message, Aldaba-Lim noted that the partnership is a replication of the significant legacy of his mother, the late and former DSWD Secretary Estefania Aldaba-Lim, who paved the way for the ‘education and training of qualified DSWD employees’ during her time.

“Our family is pleased to be able to honor the memory of our mother for today’s ceremony,” Aldaba-Lim pointed out.

Prof. Caragay, for her part, said that the MOU signing is a step further toward providing full scholarship grants to prospective students of UP-CSWCD from the agency.

“We commend you for paving the way towards providing this opportunity and full support for advance education and training of our social workers and our social services workers,” Prof. Caragay said.

Secretary Gachalian assured the donor that the DSWD would implement the scholarship program transparently and fairly so “that the most deserving gets to qualify for the grant” of the Aldaba-Lim Foundation.

Present during the ceremonial MOU signing were the members of the Aldaba-Lim family; ALFI Chairperson Cecilia Lim Lazaro; and UP Social Welfare and Community Development Dean, Prof. Lenore P. Dela Cruz.

Secretary Gatchalian was joined by Assistant Secretary for General Administration and Support Services Group (GASSG) and Personnel Development Committee (PDC) Chairperson, Atty. Gina V. Wenceslao; Assistant Secretary for Partnerships Building and Resource Mobilization Office (PBRMO), Atty. Ana Maria Paz Rafael; and Association of DSWD Social Workers, Inc. (ADSWI) Central Office Chapter President, Ronald E. Castro.

Secretary Gatchalian reiterated that the DSWD commits to exploring partnerships that will enhance the competitiveness and competencies of the social workers to work more effectively towards the realization of the DSWD’s mandate of uplifting the lives of the Filipino people.