Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian underscored the importance of financial education in protecting the welfare of the poor and vulnerable sectors, stressing that financial literacy is tantamount to social protection.

Secretary Gatchalian made the statement Monday (August 5) during the launch of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Innovative Financial Education Programs held at the Intramuros Room of the BSP head office in Malate, Manila.

“We believe that the main mandate of the DSWD is social protection for the poor, marginalized, and vulnerable. What better way to provide social protection than to do financial literacy. After all, financial literacy is protecting the poor, the vulnerable, and the marginalized because they tend to be the biggest victims of different scams online and their fear of banking also serves as a barrier toward their total  development,” Secretary Gatchalian said in his message.

One of the highlights of the BSP event was the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) among the DSWD, BSP, and the Banco De Oro (BDO) Foundation for the implementation of financial education programs for DSWD employees and social welfare officers of local government units (LGUs).

The MOA was signed by Secretary Gatchalian, BSP Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, BDO Unibank, Inc.  President and Chief Executive Officer Nestor Tan, and BDO Foundation President Mario Deriquito.

Secretary Gatchalian  said the DSWD employees, LGU social welfare officers and community development workers are the “gatekeepers to the poor and the marginalized” that implement crucial social protection programs and services for the local communities.

“Armed with enhanced financial literacy, they can impart valuable knowledge to communities, empowering them to make informed financial decisions. This collaboration would also greatly contribute to our financial literacy efforts among our beneficiaries such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and the Sustainable Livelihood Program beneficiaries, among others,” Secretary Gatchalian pointed out.

To complement the partnership with BSP and BDO, the DSWD, according to Secretary Gatchalian, will include financial literacy as one of the training programs of the DSWD Academy for agency employees, LGU social welfare officers and community development workers.

“As part of the major offerings of that newly-refurbished and revamped Academy will be the partnership with BSP, together with BDO, in coming up with fun and innovative financial literacy programs that will entice and empower our registered social workers, our social worker assistants, and our community development workers,” Secretary Gatchalian said.

The DSWD Academy is one of the priority programs of the agency that offers learning opportunities for the development of the competencies of its partner stakeholders that are needed in the delivery of social welfare and development, as well as social protection programs and services.

“If we empower and train them to become trainers, that is a force multiplier that will spread across the seven thousand plus islands in the farthest and smallest municipalities out there so that we can send a good word that financial literacy is social protection,“ the DSWD chief said. #