WFP partners with DSWD to increase CCT assistance

MANILA, Philippines - The World Food Program (WFP) has partnered with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to provide P260 million in additional cash assistance to 500,000 beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program who were affected by Typhoon Yolanda.

WFP Philippines country director Praveen Agrawal and Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding for the cash distributions to CCT beneficiaries in 50 typhoon-hit municipalities in Leyte and Samar.

The cash grant will benefit around 100,000 families.

Each family will receive an emergency cash grant of P1,300 in addition to their CCT cash grants for December and January. Each family will also receive a month’s supply of rice.

The most food insecure families were identified in WFP’s post-Typhoon Yolanda assessment among vulnerable families enrolled under the CCT program.

“We need to provide the right kind of assistance as circumstances change and at this point in time, our assessments indicate that a combination of cash support and in-kind rice is an effective approach,” Agrawal said.

Soliman, for her part, said DSWD’s partnership with the WFP is another proof that during times of adversity, the CCT program becomes a good avenue for humanitarian aid to reach its intended recipients.

“The local economy plays an important role in this recovery and in order to put it back on track, the people need money that they can use to purchase goods – goods that they need in order to survive,” Soliman added.

The provision of cash support through the CCT program marks a step in the strategic evolution of assistance provided by the WFP.

To date, the WFP has distributed nearly 6,000 metric tons of rice, 190 MT of high-energy biscuits and two MT of nutritional products for children to three million people, in partnership with the DSWD and non-government organizations. With Jaime Laude, Christina Mendez, Alexis Romero, Artemio Dumlao