The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) with other government agencies and international partners celebrated the second anniversary of the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP) on  December 10 via online video conferencing.

The EPAHP is a convergence program which aims to mitigate hunger, ensure food and nutrition security, and reduce poverty in urban and rural communities, including marginalized communities. It is composed of 28 government agencies and two international partners, namely the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the World Food Programme.

In his message, Secretary Rolando Joselito D. Bautista congratulated the member-agencies for their efforts to combat hunger and malnutrition, promote sustainable agricultural practices, and ensure food security around the country.

“As we celebrate the milestones of the program, we are reminded once again that unity and collaboration among national government agencies is a vital component in the success of any anti-poverty initiative,” Secretary Bautista said.

“However, it is imperative that we continue to improve the mechanisms and systems surrounding our collaborative efforts to mitigate hunger and poverty. This includes the need to support policy recommendations and other operational interventions to reach more beneficiaries from the poor, marginalized, and vulnerable sectors, “ the Secretary added.

For the part of DSWD, the agency implements the Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP), Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), delivery of disaster response management programs, projects and services to victims of disasters, and the provision of food supplies to clients of Residential Care Facilities (RCFs).

Under the SFP, the DSWD has completed the feeding cycle for 2020. More than 1.7 million children were provided with nutritious meals and 52,013 children were also provided with fresh milk from local dairy farmers through the partnership with the National Dairy Authority and Philippine Carabao Center. In addition,  the SFP also served more than 1 million children with nutritious meals and 8,048 children with fresh milk for 2021.

Meanwhile, as of October 2021, the RCFs were able to allocate funds for food supplies amounting to more than P68 million to 7,364 clients served.

In terms of provision of livelihood support, the SLP has been consistently capacitating SLP Associations through the provision of seed capital fund, assistance for employment facilitation, and provision of capability-building and skills training with the assistance of other EPAHP partners.  Some 35 SLPAs were engaged as service providers for the SFP, centers and offices of DSWD, catering to 231 Child Development Centers and five DSWD Centers and Offices. Furthermore, the SLPAs were able to participate in the  trade fairs of the Department of Agriculture  and other private partners.

As the lead agency in disaster response, the DSWD also ensured the provision of family food packs and non-food items to families hit by disasters and calamities.

The Department also implements the Risk Resiliency Program  which provides grants in exchange for community works through the Cash-for-Work modality which is aimed at strengthening the resiliency of the natural ecosystems and the adaptive capacity of the vulnerable groups and communities to short and long term risks. As of October 2021, the DSWD was able to serve 392,439 beneficiaries from Regions CAR, NCR, I, II, III, IV-A, VI, X, XI, XII, and CARAGA.

Through the EPAHP, the DSWD will contribute towards the government’s efforts to achieve food security, reduce poverty, and end hunger and malnutrition. ###