The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said on Wednesday, Feb. 1 that it has identified about 1,400 child labor victim-survivors in 2022 and provided them with services and interventions suitable for their needs.
Through its Strategic Help Desks for Information, Education, Livelihood, and other Developmental Interventions (SHIELD) Against Child Labor Program, the DSWD provided child laborers with holistic and immediate intervention at the community level including the provision of educational assistance from the agency and case referrals to other government agencies.
The program implementers from different DSWD offices use multi-layered strategies under the SHIELD program to help address child labor, particularly its worst forms.
The components of this program include the establishment of helpdesks at the barangay level and a local registry system on child labor for referral and convergence of support services, ensuring that immediate and appropriate interventions are available.
Meanwhile, the DSWD continues to implement the SHIELD Against Child Labor across all regions of the country to assist child laborers, as part of its efforts to help eliminate child labor in the country.
This community-based project, which was pilot tested in 2017, is now institutionalized and implemented in 16 DSWD field offices nationwide, starting in 2021.
The field offices will work directly with their partner local government units in implementing SHIELD against Child Labor in their areas to further expand the program.