ROLE OF DSWD IN THE AHMP

As a member agency of the Anti-Hunger Task Force which aims to reduce the hunger incidence in the country, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) implements AHMP to address food insecurity and malnutrition in the country.

The DSWD seeks to address hunger both on the aspect of supply or the unavailability or insufficiency of food to eat, and on the aspect of demand or the inability to buy food. The livelihood programs being implemented by the DSWD strengthen people’s capacity to produce food and on the part of the consuming public, strengthen their capacity to buy food or have access to sources of food.

The hunger mitigation program is not limited to feeding. It also includes activities on increasing food production, enhancing efficiency of logistics, and food delivery on the supply side; promoting good nutrition, and managing population on the demand side; and putting more money in poor people’s pockets. These are all undertaken thru livelihood activities, farm to market roads, Tindahan Natin project, and done in close partnership with  concerned government agencies, such as National Nutrition Council (NNC), Department of Agriculture (DA), and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), among others.

1. The Food-for-School and Healthy Start Feeding programs aim to mitigate hunger among poor families, and improve school attendance of day care children.
2. Tindahan Natin project provides low-priced but good quality rice and noodles to poor families, as well as provide livelihood to Tindahan Natin operators.
3. Self-Employment Assistance-Kaulnaran (SEA-K) Program, on the other hand, provides basic business management training and interest-free, non-collateral capital seed fund for income-generating projects of poor families.

SELF-EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE - KAUNLARAN (SEA-K) PROGRAM

• The program provides basic business management training and interest-free, non-collateral capital seed fund for income-generating projects of poor families. The program establishes a self-managed and sustainable community-based micro-credit organization for entrepreneurial development.
• The components of the program are social preparation, capital assistance, savings mobilization and access to other services.
• To avail of the SEA-K program, interested individuals should form five to six groups with five members per group to form a SEA-K Association or SKA. This should have a total of 25 to 30 members.
• Each SKA can avail of capital seed fund amounting to a maximum of P150,000 which they can use to sustain their micro-enterprises. This capital assistance provided by DSWD is non-collateral and zero interest.

TINDAHAN NATIN PROJECT (TN)

• The project involves the establishment of stores that provide low-priced, good quality rice and noodles to poor communities in the country and is jointly implemented by the DSWD and the National Food Authority.
• The store is jointly identified and endorsed by the DSWD, City/Municipal Social Welfare and Development Offices (C/MSWDO) of the local government units (LGUs), the Barangay Council, and subsequently accredited by the NFA.
• The Tindahan Natin is operated by SEA-K beneficiaries, Barangay Councils, community-based organizations, LGUs, non-government organizations (NGOs), existing retail/sari-sari stores, other organizations, and military camps registered and accredited by proper regulating agencies.
• A loan of 20,000 pesos may be provided by DSWD to qualified Tindahan Natin (TN) operators.

FOOD FOR SCHOOL PROGRAM (FSP)

• Provides food subsidy to poor families with children in day care centers. Day care children and their families receive one kilo of iron-fortified rice per day of school.

HEALTHY START FEEDING PROGRAM (HSFP)

• The Healthy Start Feeding Program is the provision of supplemental food to day care children aged three to five (3 – 5) years old. The food supplementation is in the form of hot meals to be served either during breakfast or, before the afternoon session to children in day care centers five (5) days a week.
• The parents manage the feeding program based on a prepared cycle menu using available indigenous food materials. The children will be weighed and measured in height at the start of the feeding and a monthly weight and height measurement shall be conducted thereafter to determine improvements in their nutritional status.
• It aims to provide supplementary feeding using indigenous foods and other available foods equivalent to 1/3 of the daily Recommended Energy and Nutrient Intakes (RENIs); to improve knowledge, attitude and practices of parents and caregivers through intensified nutrition and health education; to monitor the nutritional status and growth of all beneficiaries; and to assess and manage any health- and nutrition-related problems.
• The program is being implemented in selected municipalities and provinces from Regions V, VIII, IX, X, Cordillera Administrative Region, Caraga and Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. These areas were identified as among the 10 poorest and 10 food poorest provinces in the country.