Member-agencies of the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP) National Convergence Team, chaired by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), held their first regular meeting on Monday (April 14) at the Heritage Hotel Manila.

Assistant Secretary Baldr Bringas of the DSWD’s Innovations and Program Development Group (IPDG) and concurrent OIC for the EPAHP National Program Management Office presided the meeting.

Among the topics discussed in the meeting were the status of the commitments of each member-agency in the EPAHP program and the latest development on the EPHAP Digital Mapping systems for community- based organizations.

Also present in the meeting were Director Miramel Laxa of the DSWD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) and Dwight Zabala of the agency’s Bangsamoro Umpungan sa Nutrisyon (BangUn) Program.

Other government officials who joined the meeting were National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Lead Convenor Secretary Lope Santos II and Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Undersecretary Teodoro Gatchalian.

The meeting was also attended by representatives from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), DOST-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), Presidential Communications Office (PCO), Philippine Rubber Research Institute (PRRI), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN-FAO). (AKDL)