DSWD 7, Cebu Province Ink Feeding Agreement

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-7 and the Provincial Government of Cebu inked a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) on Friday last week.

DSWD-7 Regional Director Mercedita Jabagat and Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III signed the MOA to seal its partnership in a brief ceremony held at the Cebu Provincial Capitol.

Under the agreement, DSWD will continue to provide funds for the purchase of the hot meals (viand and rice) to LGU-managed day care centers and supervised neighborhood play groups.

The Cebu provincial government will complement the hot meals with milk for the beneficiaries of the SFP.

“Though malnutrition among children is a problem that needs to be addressed by the government, children who are at risk of malnutrition should also be given equal consideration to prevent them from becoming malnourished,” said Jabagat.

The implementation of SFP is already on its 4th cycle.It targeted about 74,508 children beneficiaries.

Funds to be transferred to the LGU for viand is P89,409,600 million while the funds to be transferred to the National Food Authority (NFA-7) for the purchase of rice is P25, 822,880 million.

Cebu Province will also help the DSWD in providing technical assistance to the LGUs and monitor the implementation of the program.

DSWD also commits to provide regular updates to the provincial government and to the LGUs covered by the program.

SFP, which started in 2011, is a major anti-hunger program of DSWD that provides food supplementation in the form of hot meals to be served during snack and meal time to children five days in a week for 120 days.

Image Credit: www.washingtonpost.com