Zamboanga City – The Provincial Government of Zamboanga del Sur is currently utilizing the latest data on poor households under its jurisdiction, after complying with the requirements for the execution of a Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) with the social welfare agency, earlier this semester.

Among the three PLGUs in the region, the province was the first to partner with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as it recognized the significance and impact of utilizing the data gathered by the Listahanan project in 2019 for the development, planning, and implementation of social protection programs, including research and other development projects for the poor and vulnerable.

The DSA signing was in consonance with the Data Privacy Act of 2012, which intended to protect the integrity and security of personal and sensitive personal information among the identified poor.

The DSA stipulated that the data user must integrate Listahanan in all its social marketing activities – highlighting or emphasizing the use of the targeting system, provide feedback on data utilization, and ensure confidentiality and use of requested data only for purposes agreed upon.

During the conduct of the data collection activity of Listahanan, 706,844 households were visited and interviewed across the region. From this figure, 53.06 percent, or 375,070 were identified to be poor.

The Listahanan 3 project was implemented in Zamboanga del Sur’s capital city and 26 municipalities.

Out of the 197,150 households covered during the household assessment in the province, 49.48 percent, or 97,556 are living below the poverty line.

In terms of poverty magnitude (no. of households assessed vs. identified poor), Zamboanga del Sur has the lowest in the region.

The results also revealed that the identified poor in this province have a share of 25.9 percent to the overall magnitude of poor households in Zamboanga Peninsula.

To learn more about Listahanan, visit us at https://listahanan.dswd.gov.ph/.###