(Left) Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian meets with the members of The World Bank, headed by Country Director for the Philippines Ndiamé Diop (seated 2nd from right), on Monday, March 3, at the DSWD Central Office.
(Right) In a separate meeting, Secretary Gatchalian welcomes National Director Rommel Fuerte (3rd from right) and other representatives from World Vision to discuss ways to further strengthen child protection projects.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian met the members of The World Bank and World Vision, during separate meetings on Friday, March 3, at the DSWD Central Office to strengthen existing ties and further improve the delivery of social welfare programs of the Department.
During the meeting with The World Bank, headed by Country Director for the Philippines Ndiamé Diop, the Secretary discussed several initiatives that the Department plans to pursue. One is the strengthening of the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) National Community Driven Development Project to make it more accessible to partner-implementing local government units and end-users or project beneficiaries. Another is intensifying the Philippine Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Project to ensure that it contributes to addressing hunger and malnutrition in the country.
The Secretary also mentioned easing the beneficiary experience in seeking assistance from the DSWD through the Beneficiary-FIRST Project. These programs and projects are currently being implemented by the DSWD, in partnership with The World Bank.
The Secretary, likewise, expressed his gratitude to The World Bank for their valuable contributions in empowering the communities to achieve improved access to services and in improving the lives of the poor and vulnerable sectors.
Meanwhile, in a separate meeting, Secretary Gatchalian also recognized the support and assistance of the World Vision in keeping all Filipino children safe from online sexual abuse and exploitation and worst forms of child labor. The Secretary discussed that the DSWD wants to make the partnership with World Vision “richer, more robust, and to explore different avenues” in protecting children.
Furthermore, the two organizations expressed their full support and commitment to assist the Department in achieving its mandate of providing programs and services to protect the welfare of every Filipino.
The meetings ended with a pledge to continue the partnership between DSWD and The World Bank and World Vision geared toward further improving the social welfare packages and services of the Department. ###
