UN WFP taps Globe GCASH

MANILA, Philippines - When Typhoon Ondoy struck over a year ago, more than 170 families were forced to elocate to a resettlement area in the mountainous part of San Mateo, Rizal under the Joint Resettlement for Economic Development (JRED) project of the San Mateo local government unit (LGU) and its partners, the new APEC Development Corp. and Gawad Ka­linga.

During this critical period of transition for the residents in the JRED, the LGU of San Mateo partnered, via the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) through its Cash-for-Work (CFW) program – a cash transfer endeavor designed to support the recovery and rehabilitation of typhoon-affected communities by assisting them in meeting immediate food and nutritional needs.

Through CFW, the participating residents were paid P230 a day for three days of work on sandbagging and two days of rip raping. Half of the number of days worked was paid in-kind (rice) and the rest in-cash, through Globe’s GCASH, a mobile phone-based money transfer service.

“This is a very exciting partnership between Globe, WFP, DSWD and CFSI (Community and Family Services International). We are all working together in a collaborative and innovative way to assist people affected by Typhoon Ondoy through GCASH so that beneficiaries can access essential and supplementary food items to meet their dietary needs which were temporarily affected by the disaster,” said Stephen Anderson, WFP country director and representative.

Anderson said that in this program, WFP also prioritizes women like Melanie for the community projects to ensure that the assistance is used for food purchase. 

“Even if the men do the work, WFP and its partners, DSWD and CFSI, ensure that the women household members are the primary recipients of GCASH because we understand that mothers are more likely to budget the cash for its intended purpose, which is mainly for nutritious food for their families,” he explained.