Social development has improved the access of Filipinos to quality basic social service delivery in education, training and culture; health and nutrition; population and development; housing; social protection; and asset reform. The country is on track in pursuing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on poverty, gender and equality, child health, disease control and sanitation. However, the country lags in achieving universal primary education, improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS. Moreover, large discrepancies across regions need to be addressed by the social development sector in the next six years.

The social development sector shall focus on ensuring an enabling policy environment for inclusive growth, poverty reduction, convergence of service delivery, maximized synergies and active multistakeholder participation. Priority strategies include: (a) attaining the MDGs; (b) providing direct conditional cash transfers (CCT) to the poor; (c) achieving universal coverage in health and basic education; (d) adopting the community-driven development (CDD) approach; (e) converging social protection programs for priority beneficiaries and target areas; (f) accelerating asset reform; (g) mainstreaming climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in social development; (h) mainstreaming gender and development; (i) strengthening civil society-basic sector participation and publicprivate partnership; (j) adopting volunteerism; and (k) developing and enhancing competence of the bureaucracy and institutions.

The Plan translates the President’s Social Contract with the Filipinos in ensuring inclusive growth and equitable access to quality basic social services, especially by the poor and vulnerable.