The Multi-Sector Governance Council (MSGC) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) conducted an Advanced Disability Sensitivity Training (ADST) for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program’s (4P’s) Kilos Unlad Team of Field Offices II, CALABARZON, VIII, IX, CARAGA, and National Capital Region on January 12.

The training was conducted by the MSGC and the DSWD’s Office of the Strategy Management (OSM) in partnership with Leonard Cheshire Disability Philippines Foundation Inc. (LCDPFI).

The ADST was the first in the series of trainings to be conducted by the MSGC as part of their commitment to help the Department improve the quality of its services through holding a series of comprehensive capacity building training sessions which incorporates the use of disability, gender, and children’s rights perspectives in the DSWD’s programs and in the workplace.

The said training aimed at increasing the awareness on disability, train participants on how to effectively communicate, interact with persons with disabilities and provide them with the appropriate support through a rights-based approach.

It covered topics on understanding disability and its paradigms, international treaties, local laws, and rights of persons with disabilities; communication and interaction with persons with disabilities; and sharing of experiences from people with physical and visual impairment and those with non-apparent disability such as deaf, hard of hearing and persons in the autism spectrum, learning and intellectual disability, and psychosocial disability.

Moreover, accessibility support such as sign language interpreters was made available during the entire training to ensure that it is inclusive to all sectors.

MSGC is a body composed of different external stakeholders and partners of the Department and is currently under the leadership of newly-elected Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson, Professor Maria Fe V. Mendoza (UP-NCPAG) and Director Rommel V. Fuerte (World Vision, Inc.), respectively. ####