The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has forged a partnership with Qualfon Philippines, one of the biggest Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies in Cebu City for the implementation of its Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).

DSWD-Field Office VII Regional Director Evelyn Macapobre led the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Qualfon Philippines Cebu Site Director Steve Brown, Qualfon Dumaguete Site Director David Jackson, and Qualfon Education and Community Relations Director Joslyn Canon.

The agreement cites the provision for call center training as well as  pre-employment screening and processing of the Department’s SLP participants in the region, which include the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps) and those listed under the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) or Listahanan of the DSWD.

4Ps is a human development program implemented by the DSWD that invests in the health and education of poor families, providing monthly cash grants to beneficiaries who comply with program conditions; while Listahanan is an information management system that identifies who and where the poor are in the country.

“We are excited to start this partnership immediately. This would mean that we have an additional big opportunity for the people that we are serving all over Region VII, to help them acquire skills that are needed and that would lead them to have better opportunities in the employment field,” said Dir. Macapobre.

On the other hand,  Dir. Brown stated that the partnership will definitely help to further fulfill our mission of making people’s lives better by touching those in the community.

“This partnership allows DSWD and Qualfon the opportunity to work hand in hand so that we can ensure that we fulfill the mission that we have, which is making peoples’ lives confortable…We do thank the DSWD and this opportunity that we have as we continue and move forward,” Qualfon Dumaguete Site Director Jackson said.

For her part, DSWD Secretary Virginia N. Orogo expressed her gratitude to Qualfon for helping the Department improves the lives of its beneficiaries.

“We have always been grateful to our partners who are one with us in our goal of helping  alleviate the lives of our fellow citizens from poverty. We thank Qualfon Philippines for giving our beneficiaries an opportunity to acquire skills that would help them land jobs and be self-sufficient, making them economically fit to invest in their own health, education, and their other basic needs,” she said.

Qualfon Philippines has offices in Cebu, Dumaguete, and Manila. It has more than 3,800 employees in Cebu; over 3,000 in Dumaguete; and 1,200 employees in Manila. ###