DSWD, World Bank chart ways forward for tie-up projects

The Department of Social Welfare and Development on Friday said they have wrapped up with the World Bank (WB), charting ways forward for the Beneficiary Fast, Innovative, Responsive, Service Transformation (BFIRST) Social Protection Project.

During the wrap-up session at the DSWD Central Office in Quezon City, attended by Secretary Rex Gatchalian and World Bank Country Director Ndiame Diop, the findings and results of the Implementation Support Mission held from 4 to 7 December between the two agencies in rolling out the BFirst Social Protection Project were discussed and addressed.

Gatchalian underscored the significance of the mission as this gives the Department an overview of the ever-changing world of poverty.

"We know that this is a very important package that deals with a lot of lives," the DSWD chief said.

Gatchalian emphasized that the mission is helpful in assisting the government in addressing the poverty problem in the country, which he described as 'not static but rather dynamic'.

"So these missions actually will help us to be able to tailor fit further actions both in service delivery and the actual grants," the DSWD Secretary said.

Among the crucial things discussed during the meeting were the performance-based conditions which include the provision of cash grants to the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) through transactional accounts, and the assessment and re-assessment of the 4Ps beneficiaries' socio-economic status using the Standardized Targeting System.

The DSWD chief expressed his gratitude to the World Bank for its continued support of the fulfillment of the Department's mandate to improve social protection delivery in the country.

"I am very appreciative that you and your team personally sit rather than send a team… so that we can get a better understanding [of the results of the mission]", Sec. Gatchalian pointed out.

The DSWD chief was joined by Undersecretary for Policy and Plans Group, Atty Adonis Sulit; Assistant Secretary for External Assistance and Development Juan Carlo Marquez, who is also the Project Manager of BFIRST; and Legal Service Director Leslie Rose Torres.

Attending the meeting from the World Bank were Yoonyoung Cho, Task Team Leader and Senior Economist; Ruth Rodriguez, Co-Task Team Leader and Senior Protection Specialist; and Laarni Revilla, Social Protection Consultant.

BFIRST is a joint project of the DSWD and the World Bank that aims to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on poor Filipino families and to strengthen the DSWD's social protection delivery systems to become more adaptive and efficient.