THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) vowed to further boost its initiatives against poverty and hunger.
The DSWD made the commitment after a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that self-rated poverty rose to 55 percent in September from 49 percent in June.
Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao, the DSWD’s spokesman, said on Wednesday the department recognizes the survey result and that it “will be used as a listening tool to assess and improve the implementation of various social protection programs and services of” the DSWD.
Dumlao said the data “will help further assess the emerging challenges faced by households and ensure that the Department’s interventions remain responsive to their needs.”
“The Department continues to assess the effectiveness of its programs and identify areas where interventions can be strengthened to better serve the poor and vulnerable sectors,” she said.
Among those programs are the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food and Transport Assistance, the Sustainable Livelihood Program and services for immediate disaster response.
The SWS survey found self-rated food poverty to be at 44 percent in September — up from 36 percent in June.
To help address food insecurity, the DSWD said it is expanding the reach of its Walang Gutom Program (WGP) and the Walang Gutom Kitchen (WGK), which has four soup kitchens in Pasay City in Metro Manila, Mandaue City in Cebu province, Zamboanga City in Mindanao and Catbalogan City in Samar province.
“Currently, we have 600,000 WGP household beneficiaries that receive P3,000 monthly food credits which can be used to purchase nutritious and affordable goods from partner retailers,” Dumlao said. The department plans to have 12 community-based soup kitchens this year under the WGK program, she said.
