Owwa 11 conducts training for care bearers

IN line with the Workers Welfare Assistance Program of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) and in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Owwa 11 conducted a three-day Basic Counseling Skills and Welfare Case Management Training last May 16 to 18, 2018 at the Grand Regal Hotel, Lanang, Davao City.

The training was designed to capacitate the agency's care bearers with the basic counseling skills and the necessary knowledge in welfare case management for them to become effective in handling cases at the municipal level.

A total of 125 Public Employment Service Office (Peso) Managers and OFW Help Desk Coordinators from Davao City, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, and Compostela Valley Province attended the said training.

The Peso Managers and the designated OFW Help Desk Coordinators are the care bearers and partners of Owwa in implementing its programs and services in their respective municipalities. They need to be equipped with the proper guidelines and steps in handling various welfare concerns of our OFWs (incountry and on-site) and their families to ensure that proper case management is well observed and clearly defined.

Cristelito T. Abadilla, Owwa 11 PDOS Trainer, provided the rationale and objectives of the training while Owwa 11 Officer-inCharge Carmelo T. Elaya welcomed the participants and encouraged them to be attentive and enthusiastic during the three-day training.

Raquel E. Nuñez, resource speaker from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) substantially discussed the Basic Principles in Counseling. In her presentation, Nuñez defined counseling as a process wherein a helping relation between two persons takes place because one person feels the need for special help. Likewise, she elaborated the different attitudes and skills of an effective and good counselor including strategies used in counseling.

Meanwhile, Mialou H. Batican, Welfare Case Officer of Owwa 11, discussed Welfare Case Management. To give an idea on the process of the request for assistance, Ms. Batican presented a diagram on the flow of the request filed by the OFWs or the Next-of-Kin. Likewise, she distinguished cases which will be referred to POEA and DFA. It enabled the participants to identify the proper agencies that will handle specific requests and to know the status of the request filed.

In his closing message, Elaya congratulated all the participants for completing the three-day training.

The three-day training has made the participants more equipped of their functions as the care bearers who provide initial assistance to the families of OFWs with various concerns. Maricel T. Sarabillo/Owwa 11