LOCAL COMMUNITY PROFILING

Poverty and inequality have been perennial problems our country is dealing with.
Many presidents have attempted to reduce the gaps between the rich and poor and
lower the poverty incidence. The Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act
which adopts an area-based and focused intervention to poverty puts the Local
Government Units (LGUs) at the forefront of the fight against poverty.

Despite the efforts of various government agencies, many poverty-targeted

programs still fail to alleviate the conditions of the people below the poverty line.
In most cases, this has resulted from the need for updated information as to who,
why, and where are the people who need these programs, policies, and services are.

A lack of adequate information constrains the reach of these government programs

to target groups. Due to the lengthy-time period for updating the system or analysis
available for planning and decision-makers in the government, notably in LGUs
and Barangays, discrepancies were primarily caused by the inaccuracy of obtained
information to actual state and dependency on data coming from national agencies.
These issues caused resources to be misallocated to those who are less in need and
are more evident in our struggles and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The socioeconomic, health, and education profiles, accurate and up-to-date
information, and implementation monitoring are essential for LGUs because they
are government policies and programs' primary actors and implementors.

With the reasons above and having the people’s welfare in mind with the
dedication to inclusive growth and poverty reduction, the Local Community
Profiling System (LCPS) is carefully and meticulously designed. The community
profile overviews the fundamental circumstances and patterns in a community and
learning space. It creates the backdrop for evaluating possibilities and implications
and choosing a project. Creating a profile for the community entails detecting local
problems and attitudes and finding significant elements to assess the social and
economic trends in the studied area and the neighborhood that the project would
impact. It is intended to work from information gathering from communities,
validating, checking, and processing analysis of this information into a Barangay-
based system with a counterpart system managed by the Community Affairs Office
(CAO), which will facilitate coordination and supply of information to various
departments and agencies of the LGU(s)—providing the LGU from city/municipal
government to barangays easier access to updated data analytics, which is
scientific and easy to understand, for practical, quality, inclusive, and equitable
service delivery and civic oversight.

Data can be gathered from primary sources, like interviews or field research, and
secondary sources, like detailed blueprints or newspaper articles. Depending on the
job, the type of effort put into collecting data, and the necessary documentation
level will change. This information gathered through the LCPS is important for
LGUs to create targeted and efficient socioeconomic programs and interventions. It
is providing them with the means of collating accurate and dependable information
vital for the LGU’s generation of policies, programs, and services that can then be
beneficial in building and empowering resilient communities to promote
community-led development.

Further, the LCPS, through the CAO, would be able to provide specific
information through the speedy processing of numerous indicators that will define
who, why, and where these initiatives should the LGU serve. Focused intervention
can then fully serve the disadvantaged population. Using our limited resources to
the fullest extent possible with monitoring will lead to extensively coordinated,
effective, and incredibly productive programs in highly participative communities.
Limiting political interference, bureaucracy, and manipulation of access to these
programs are further considerations. They are strengthening the capacity of
communities and LGUs to manage their different roles in the decentralization
process.

Moreover, the LCPS with BOSS is designed as an up-to-date source of information

for the LGUs and is also expected to complement the existing gaps in our national
statistical system on poverty and effectivity of government programs monitoring.
The initial design of the LCPS was pilot-tested in twelve (12) barangays in the
población area of the Municipality of Naic, Province of Cavite. We are adopting
the LCPS as a tool for local planning and monitoring of the development programs
of the municipality.