Teampura is a coined term from the acronyms derived from the phrase: Together, Everyone Achieves More Positive Understanding and Responsive Action (TEAMPURA), a mantra that drives the passion of the DSWD Zamboanga Sibugay staff.
And just like the famous Japanese dish, Teampura is served hot and served as the primary dish in a meal of services that are being offered in Zamboanga Sibugay Province, as if it is the main course to a fine social service delivery.
The Municipality of Titay is a 2nd class municipality in the Province of Zamboanga Sibugay with 30 barangays. Titay is known as an agricultural municipality wherein farming is the main source of livelihood and income for most of its residents.
Having a population of 49,673 the Listahanan has identified 4,354 poor families in the municipality which ranks Titay as the 14th poorest municipality out of 16 municipalities in the entire Zamboanga Sibugay Province.
With this, the DSWD implements the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program in the said municipality to reach out to the poor families with a total of 4,663 beneficiaries composed of 4,132 beneficiaries under the Regular Conditional Cash Transfer (RCCT) and 531 under the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer for Indigenous Peoples (MCCT-IP).
And with such huge numbers to cater to, teampura is the key to be able to efficiently serve and bring social services on the table and plates of the vulnerable sectors.
The team was initially established as Tulosulo last 2017 as the KC NCDDP was implemented in the municipality of Titay, Zamboanga Sibugay. The team was composed of 22 team members: 4 of which are SLP PDO II, 4 KC NCDDP implementers and 14 Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program workers.
These workers from various programs and projects complement each other for an efficient delivery of services. Several activities are conducted with the coordination of field implementers such as the Municipal Inter-Agency Committee (MIAC) stakeholders meeting, Municipal Action Team (MAT) meeting implementation of Convergence Initiative, close review and implementation of Convergence Municipal Action Plan especially stakeholders commitments and household monitoring. The team members are guided and informed of the different plans of their respective programs/projects so as to ensure that all beneficiaries are provided with appropriate intervention.
The Local Government Unit of Titay is also very well-involved and is very supportive of the DSWD’s programs and activities through the provision of different resources, legislations, and mobilization of communities to improve the level of well-being of the partner beneficiaries.
The MAT, MIAC and CSO’s work hand-in-hand to create convergence as an initiative to answer the gaps felt by the communities/partner beneficiaries.
Teampura ensures that everyone is involved in all endeavors of the Department to guarantee that maximum success potential is achieved and all seeds planted will grow abundantly.
PLANT YOUR SAVINGS
With the introduction of the Bio-Intensive Gardening (BIG) in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) as part of its mandate, sprout the Convergence Initiative (CI) 2017 dubbed as “DAGDAG KITA SA BAKURAN.”
It aims to assist 100% of our partner beneficiaries to have a secured source of nutrition and staple food on the table through the establishment of backyard and communal gardens thus decreasing the health issues and sustainable food security concerns in the area.
Apart from addressing the nutritional gaps of a household, the gardening activities also helped the beneficiaries augment their income. Teampura helped the beneficiaries strategically perform their best practices in the gardening by providing them technical assistance such as maintenance, logistical support, and bookkeeping among others. The team strengthened the implementation through sustained information dissemination, various orientations on organic gardening which led to the upgrade of the convergence initiative from Dagdag Kita sa Bakuran to “Save a Peso a Day” which was launched last November 19, 2017.
Its primary objective is to inculcate the practice of saving for when it is needed. From mere planting vegetables, the initiative has now flourished into potential savings.
SAVE A PESO A DAY Saves the Day
Prior to the implementation of the C.I., the provincial office in Zamboanga Sibugay constantly receives several financial concerns daily from the 4Ps beneficiaries that vary from needs for household expenses, educational expenses, emergency medical expenditures and etc.
SAVE A PESO A DAY is seen as the answer to the unexpected crises and financial difficulties which our partner beneficiaries may encounter in the future.
Evident in their individual savings account, the partner beneficiaries are now able to save money from their income in their backyard and communal garden. As aggressive as some of them are, some of the beneficiaries are able to use their additional income as a startup capital to put up a small business, they also invested in group lending where everybody benefits from the interest, others even used their money to venture into poultry and hog raising business.
The partner beneficiaries express that they are now less worried about unexpected crises or even about hospitalization concerns that go beyond the “zero billing” policy of accredited hospitals.
With this observable impact of the convergence initiative in the lives of the partner beneficiaries, the Team and MIAC came up with the next step of the Convergence Initiative in the 2nd semester 2018, the level up the previous Convergence Initiative to “GUGMA SA NEGOSYO, IPON KO, CAPITAL KO.
This initiative was launched last December 6, 2018. It focuses on the strengthening of organized community groups for effective income generating activities. The C/MAT Team conducted several Organizational Development, Financial Management Session, and Simple Bookkeeping seminars for the beneficiaries that helped them in sustaining their income-generating activities, installation of simple accounting system, local accreditation, and construction of by-laws.
The TEAMPURA at school
Since Teampura is a collaboration of all stakeholders to address gaps and provide appropriate interventions, one gap has caught the attention of the team –the alarming increase in number of the children not attending school or what the 4Ps program call the “NAS children”.
This led the team to implement a project entitled “SPG – Estudyante, Pamilya at Gobyerno; Hawak kamay para sa Pagbabago”, an initiative launched last May 3, 2019.
It ensures 100% school enrollees among children beneficiaries and sustain their attendance to school. This is in support to the Bata: Balik Eskwela campaign of the national office to bring the Not Attending School (NAS) children back in school either through regular classes or in Alternative Learning System (ALS).
With this convergence initiative, almost 233 children went back to school even those children not monitored by the program.
During the launching of the project, all MIAC members were present and contributed a lot in the implementation of the initiative. Department heads from the LGU and the PNP Officers served as Resource Speakers for the parents, DepEd/ ALS Personnel served as resource speakers for the children, our partners in the Religious Sector provided Moral recovery sessions both for parents and children.
As a result, Titay-LGU committed to provide school supplies for the children –a commitment that is well-commended by the Department as this shows the strong convergence power of the team in the area which inspired a lot of other teams not only in the Zamboanga Sibugay Province but in the entire Zamboanga Peninsula as well.
Teampura and its special sauce
Just like a regular tempura, Teampura also needs sauce to make it more special and more delicious before it is served to the public. The special sauce of the Teampura is their external sources and support from partners.
Through the strong relationship that was built overtime, the team was able to seek help from its partners in the successful implementation of their initiatives. Because of the well-established coordination, the Local Government Unit in the municipality of Titay funded all of the initiatives presented by the team.
In a validation activity conducted by the PRAISE Committee, Teampura mentioned that they have never encountered rejections be it funds or mobilization support from the LGU.
As Local Chief Executive Hon. Leonardo Talania, Municipal Mayor, said in one of the local events “in any activity for the people wherein the team needs augmentation and assistance, just provide a project proposal and the LGU will gladly accommodate your requests such as sources for funds or logistical support for the activities.”
We already know from the stories mentioned in the first half of this article that the team has a strong support from other national government agencies, to wit: the Department of Education which was their partner during the “SPG“ launching as majority of the preparation of the event was lodged to the DepEd (ie Venue, Sound system, Stage and Emcee) with the amount of 64,000 for the food and school supplies.
In addition, the Municipal Agriculture office had also provided several variety seeds worth 100,000 and animal dispersal to our beneficiaries for their gardening project, the Dagdag Kita sa Bakuran.
The Municipal Administrator voluntarily donated 10,000 pesos cash to purchased seedlings for beneficiaries and pledged 10,000 pesos annual donation for the search for modelong gulayan.
The Barangay Local Government Unit of all barangays also showed support by their commitment in monitoring the Communal Gardens as well as the behaviors of the target children beneficiaries.
TEAMPURA –not a dish but an ingredient
It has been proven that the system and strategy of the team is effective in bring social welfare services closer to the reach of their target beneficiaries. But for the team members of Teampura, the success that they see now is not necessarily because of them. Rather the result of the effort of all people working together to achieve common goals, one step at a time.
For them, Teampura acts like an ingredient that pulls together all other major ingredients to come up with one very tasty offering to their clients. That’s the secret recipe to a successful dish.
As their name says, Together, Everyone Achieves More Positive Understanding and Responsive Action.