DSWD presents anti-hunger campaign

DEPARTMENT of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Assistant Secretary Baldr Bringas introduced on Thursday the Digital Mapping System (DMS), an anti-hunger effort supported by the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (Epahp) Convergence Program.

At a media forum, Bringas said that the DMS project seeks to increase the functionality of community-based organizations (CBOs) and small-holder farmers by connecting them to prospective markets such as the DSWD’s Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) and other institutional feeding programs run by other organizations.

It is going to contribute to the development of a supply-demand ecosystem in order to improve the country’s food system.

Apart from the DMS, the DSWD is set to scale up the execution of the Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program (FSP), starting in July.

“Our plan is that by July, we will be able to scale up from 3,000 to 300,000 beneficiaries,” Bringas said.

“So the following year, we will add another 300,000, so the total will be 600,000 beneficiaries for 2025. By 2027, hopefully, we will be able to take in 1 million beneficiaries,” he added.

At present, the FSP serves 2,285 registered beneficiaries across five pilot areas: Tondo, Manila; San Mariano town in Isabela; Dapa municipality in Siargao; Garchitorena in Camarines Sur; and Parang, Maguindanao.

Aside from additional beneficiaries, Bringas stated that the FSP trial execution includes 17 authorized retailers.

FSP aims to accredit more small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in order to benefit more marginalized communities in the country by creating an “ecosystem of supply and demand.”

“We want to do this because we are implementing the program not only by helping one group or one sector, but many sectors of our society,” Bringas said.

“On the one hand, we help the poorest of the poor households in our country, and, at the same time, we also help one of the poorest sectors, our farmers,” he added.

The FSP is the national government’s flagship program that strives to lessen involuntary hunger among low-income households while also assisting them in becoming productive members of the country using a whole-of-nation approach.