The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the World Bank (WB) held a technical discussion on Thursday (June 1) focusing on how to further enhance the ongoing implementation of the Beneficiary FIRST Social Protection Project (BFIRST Project) at the DSWD Central Office in Quezon City.
 
During the wrap-up session attended by DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian and World Bank Country Director  Ndiame Diop, the findings and agreements during the recently concluded Mid-Term Review (MTR) Mission of the project were addressed. 
 
Among the crucial things discussed during the meeting were the DSWD’s efforts in digital transformation, standardization of the targeting system for social protection programs, and unification of the beneficiary database with PhilSys integration. 
 
While the Project aims to increase the number of PhilSys-verified individuals listed in the unified beneficiary database, Secretary Gatchalian maintained there would be “no deprivation to beneficiaries who are not registered on PhilSys.” 
 
World Bank Task Team Leader Dr. Yoonyoung Cho, who presented the summary of major findings, agreements and recommendations from the MTR Field Visit and Technical Discussion held on May 23 to 31 this year, commended the new DSWD leadership for its initiative to pursue the digital transformation of the Department.
 
Part of the key features of the BFIRST project is to achieve digital data governance and digital payments, including the transactional accounts for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps beneficiaries. 
 
Secretary Gatchalian expressed his gratitude to the World Bank for its continued support of the fulfillment of the DSWD’s mandate to improve social protection delivery in the country. 
 
“We are partners in trying to end the intergenerational poverty,” the DSWD chief said. 
 
BFIRST is a joint project of the DSWD and the World Bank that aims to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on poor Filipino families and to strengthen the DSWD’s social protection delivery systems to become more adaptive and efficient. #
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