As part of the efforts of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to capacitate its field office (FO) personnel, the agency held a series of virtual capacity building activity, supported by the WorldBank, for the implementation of the Emergency Cash Transfer (ECT).

The first batch of the training was held on January 14 and 15 while the second batch was conducted on January 20 and 21. The training aims to provide clarity and guidance on the ECT implementation; specify the roles and responsibilities of DSWD and other stakeholders in the ECT implementation; discuss potential challenges and solutions in the project implementation; and, consolidate the recommendation of FOs for possible enhancement of the guidelines or development of the ECT Operations Manual.

The ECT is an adaptive strategy in bridging the gaps between immediate disaster relief, humanitarian response, and early recovery support through the provision of unconditional cash to victims of disasters and emergency situations requiring interventions.

The ECT program reduces the financial and administrative costs to the government, in general, and DSWD, in particular, in delivering the various food and non-food items to the affected areas and population. Furthermore, the program minimizes security risks for personnel through digital payouts by using the financial service providers, instead of carrying a large sum of money in the payout area, which contributes also to the lessening of logistical demands. In addition, it supports the early revival of local markets, at the same time it also accelerates the return to normalcy of Internally Displaced Persons. It will also complement existing disaster response support by empowering affected vulnerable families to decide on their own needs using available local resources.

DSWD, as the lead disaster response agency, will ensure the integrity of the process and that the funds to be transferred to the beneficiaries are accounted for to the last centavo. ###