DSWD: 14.4 million poor women in the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines – There are 14.4 million poor women in the Philippines. 

This startling number was taken from the government’s Listahan project – an information management system that attempts to identify who and where the poor are nationwide.

As women are remembered this month for Women’s month, data from DSWD, the implementing agency of the Listahan project, proves that women comprise almost half of the vulnerable poor population in the country according to a 2009 assesment. 

The region with the largest population of poor women is the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), followed by areas in the Zamboanga Peninsula and Eastern Visayas. (READ: DSWD seeks to reduce poverty)

The Listahan project also revelead details such as educational background, as well as common livelihood for poor women. 

“The Listahanan has data up to the household level. It can provide social protection stakeholders the names of the poor women who are in need of assistance. Thus, its primary use is to be the basis for identifying beneficiaries of anti-poverty programs and services,” says Dinky Soliman on the use of the data. 

Next Step

Since the Listahan project’s launch in 2011, several programs have accessed the database including DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. This on-going program, which aims to improve maternal health and access to education, is benefiting 3.9 mullion poor households selected through the database. (READ: Women of substance and self reliance)

Philhealth also utilizes the data for their Sponsored Program, which provides free health insurance coverage to the identified 5.2 million poor households.

The Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) Student Grant-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (SGP-PA) partners with the Pantawid Pamilya by providing college scholarships to high school graduates, using the database to target vulnerable populations.

DSWD is allowing the data to be used by government agencies, non-government organizations (NGOs) and local government units (LGUs) to improve interventions and livelihood programs directed towards women. – Rappler.com / Krupska Lenina Apit of DSWD 

Editor’s note: We’ve changed the headline. The previous headline read: ‘Half of poor are women.’