DSWD accredits North Cotabato women and kids center

KIDAPAWAN CITY --- The Home for Women and Children of Cotabato (WHCC) now has a government standards accreditation, an imprimatur for continuing operation benefiting poor wards.The operation of the WHCC is being bankrolled and managed by the North Cotabato provincial government through its social welfare office.Vergilita Guialaran, provincial social welfare officer, on Friday said the facility was awarded in late July with a Standards Bureau First Level Accreditation by the Department of Social Welfare Development, implying it has complied with the DSWD’s women and children care-giving standards.The provincial WHCC, located in North Cotabato’s capital, Kidapawan City, was launched only last February 29, 2016.Guialaran said it was the director of the Standards Bureau of DSWD, Marites Maristela, who relayed just recently to North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Mendoza their having granted the WHCC with a first level accreditation. It was an acknowledgement that we have complied with the department’s requirements and regulations on women and children’s welfare facilities,” Guialaran said.

The accreditation was issued after an on-site assessment of the facility last April 26, 2016 by a team from the DSWD’s office for Region 12 in Koronadal City.The team had stated, in a post evaluation report, that the WHCC had passed the major requirements for such a facility --- administration and organization, outreach interventions and physical structure safety standards --- as prescribed by DSWD. These are the criterion being measured by our office which facilities like the HWCC must be able to meet to be given the accreditation” Maristela said in a letter to Mendoza last week.Mendoza, now in his third and last term as North Cotabato provincial governor, exercises ministerial control over the WHCC.Maristela said their evaluation team also rated as efficient the provincial government’s supervision of the WHCC.As an accredited outfit, the HWCC management must maintain the DSWD standards and focus on capacity-building initiatives meant to continuously upgrade the proficiency of its workers.The office of Mendoza spent P5 million for the construction of the HWCC, a 24-bed facility located inside the sprawling provincial capitol complex in Barangay Amas in Kidapawan City.