THE DEPARTMENT of Social Welfare XI (DSWD) continues to alleviate hunger and poverty in Davao Region through the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP) program.
During the Kapehan sa Dabaw on Sept. 9, DSWD XI regional program coordinator Angelie Rodriguez highlighted the updates of the EPAHP program that began in 2022. She noted that when they started launching the EPAHP program, DSWD observed problems of having no sustainable markets in community-based organizations (CBOs) and local farmers.
DSWD partnered with government agencies for the EPAHP program to address problems of hunger and poverty, provide opportunities for CBOs, and improve the quality of implementing supplementary feeding programs.
“Yung role namin is the program lead and then hindi po lahat ng mga services available kay DSWD and that’s the reason na meron tayong mga partner agencies. Kumbaga kung yung pangangailangan ng ating mga client is that makaka intervene yung other partners natin,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez shared that in 2022, Davao Region started with four LGUs that supply farmers with food such as vegetables, eggs, and fish in supplementary feeding programs in small CBOs. In 2023, the LGUs increased to five, acting as the procuring entity in adapting the Negotiated Procurement-Community Participation (NP-CP) to aid local farmers.
In 2024, the target reached 14 LGUs resulting in bigger opportunities given to local farmers and other poor CBOs, which eventually impacted the DSWD’s goal to address poverty. In 2024, the contract with the government also increased by P26 million compared to P1.9 million in 2022.
DSWD XI capacity building officer Mark Dave Cabaltica observed that when the EPAHP program launched, local farmers were encouraged to market their produce on the institutional market and increased their income.
