The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) received a fund grant amounting to P104.2 million from the Australian Government-Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for the implementation of a three-year Support Program for Disaster Response.

The project aims to enhance the Department’s capacity in providing leadership in disaster response and humanitarian assistance in times of calamities.

The DSWD presented last week the inception report for the fund grant which shall have four major components for implementation such as prepositioning and purchase of non-food relief supplies; warehouse construction; capacity development; and, enhancement of project management to include monitoring and evaluation.

DSWD Assistant Secretary Vilma B. Cabrera said, “We are grateful for the support program which will help the Department further enhance its disaster response operations. The implementation of the program is timely especially that the typhoon season is approaching.”

She added that the program components are based on the lessons learned by the Department in recent major disaster operations.

In behalf of the Australian Government, DFAT Counsellor Geoff King expressed approval of the inception report, and hoped that the annual plan for implementation be drafted immediately to formally start the program.

He added that their office will work closely with DSWD especially in ensuring purchase of international quality materials and the on-time completion of the components.

The Support Program for Disaster Response is one of the many partnerships of DSWD with the Australian Government. ###