Twenty-nine-year-old Naima Apinton lives in the small village of Daguan in Kapatagan, Lanao del Sur with her husband Ansanodin and five young children. Ansanodin makes a living as a pedicab driver, typically earning just 250 to 300 pesos (5 to 6 US dollars) a day. Thus, for Naima, keeping her family fed and clothed had been a daily challenge. In 2020, when COVID-19 began to disrupt the lives of the people in the BARMM, Naima worried about how the pandemic would affect her ability to provide for her family. In June 2020, the UN Joint Programme on Shock- Responsive Social Protection (JPSRSP) gave out emergency cash grants to 1,000 families in Lanao del Sur who had 0 to 2 year-old children and who were excluded from the 4Ps and the Social Amelioration Program. The joint programme aimed to provide critical support during the crucial first 1,000 days of a child’s life. Naima’s family was among those that received the emergency cash assistance.  With the money she received, Naima started selling banana fritters and other street food. With her income, she was able to help Ansanodin to provide for their children’s daily needs.  Naima has been able to sustain her small vending business. With her earnings, putting food on the table is no longer a matter of “squeezing sweat and shedding tears,” says Naima. She is also able to bring her children regularly to the municipal clinic. “I am thankful to the Ministry of Social Services and Development and to the UN for extending help to people like me,” Naima says. [Ends] Read about the Joint Programme on Shock-Responsive Social Protection  

COTABATO CITY/MANILA, 13 October 2021 – A social protection programme being implemented by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has gone beyond cash aid distribution and is set to strengthen social protection in the region by providing technical support to the development of a system for identifying the most vulnerable and at-risk population. The Joint Programme on Shock-Responsive Social Protection (JPSRSP) builds on social protection programmes implemented by the BARMM to ease poverty in the region. Launched in 2020, the JPSRSP addresses the risks and vulnerabilities that the Bangsamoro people, especially the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalized, face in times of natural and human-induced disasters, that perpetuate the cycle of poverty. BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim said, “These systems should be in place not just during a pandemic but because of Mindanao’s vulnerability to adverse impacts of natural hazards and even human-induced incidents. We have to be prepared and to make sure that our people are protected at all times.” “This is the essence of a ‘risk-informed shock responsive social protection system’ which the BARMM is reinforcing in partnership with UN agencies,” said Gustavo Gonzalez, United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in the Philippines. “The JPSRSP enhances BARMM’s existing social protection systems to better target and deliver assistance before and immediately after a crises becomes a full blown disaster.” The JPSRSP focuses on three key interventions, which include mainstreaming risk-informed shock responsive social protection in the Bangsamoro Development Plan (BRDP); building capacity of BARMM institutions to analyze and monitor both natural and human-induced risks and improve synergy; and improving the poverty registry system to include risk and hazard vulnerability assessments, predictive analytics, inclusive targeting and effective monitoring.” In the one year since the joint programme started, the JP worked with the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) which was then starting to lay down the design of its own poverty and disaster registry. MSSD is designing the registry to provide a more comprehensive information on the situation of households and takes into account the context of the BARMM region. UNICEF provided technical support on the poverty registry instruments and management information systems. Vulnerability Risk Assessment and Mapping (VRAM) is being undertaken to map out the vulnerabilities of BARMM communities and to identify the types of risks and how these risks affect the welfare of the marginalized population and their  livelihoods. FAO, in partnership with the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG) and the Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), will survey 1,680 households across BARMM, including the Special Geographic Areas. The overlay of this information allows BARMM to design risk informed and shock responsive social protection that is well targeted and relevant to the different contexts of the region. In addition, together with the Bangsamoro Planning and Development Authority (BPDA), FAO reviewed the Bangsamoro Investment Development Plan to provide a training platform for key Ministries in making and implementing relevant policies. In addition, the JPSRSP complemented the government’s COVID19 response by providing emergency cash transfers to 1,800 poor families who were excluded from SAP and 4Ps. The joint programme’s innovations have generated interest from development partners to scale up and sustain its gains.  The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), which channels relief assistance from the European Union (EU), has been supporting the Philippines’ social protection agenda, particularly through the development of the Roadmap on Shock-Responsive Social Protection. In BARMM, ECHO continues to collaborate with the UN to increase capacities and scale for anticipatory action through social protection systems to protect development gains against shocks. The Government of Australia is providing additional resources to upscale this joint programme to build on and expand the work, particularly in enhancing BARMM’s cash delivery systems, by supporting relevant initiatives on cash transfer beneficiary database management systems and providing emergency cash transfers. The scaling up also allows for more engagement in other forms of social protection, beyond cash transfers, that are compatible with BARMM’s social protection landscape, such as agriculture and asset insurance. “The Australian Government is pleased to support a scaling up of the UN Joint Programme in BARMM as it is contributing to a more equal and inclusive economy and society. This is a key objective of Australia’s Partnership for Recovery in the Philippines, including in BARMM. Importantly, the UN Joint Programme will help build longer-term resilience by bringing together development partners and the BARMM Government to strengthen risk-informed and shock-responsive systems which respond to unique challenges and needs,” said Thanh Le PSM, Counsellor for Development, Australian Embassy in the Philippines. “With mechanisms and policies in place that support social protection, next year BARMM will be in a position to implement at least two shock-responsive social protection programmes that will be able to cover 63 percent of its total population, as well as 26,000 combatants,” said González. The JPSRSP is supported by the Joint SDG Fund, a UN multi-partner trust fund. This means contributions it receives are not entity-specific, but aim to support broader UN system-level functions. This type of pooled funding used by multi-partner trust funds, like the Joint SDG Fund is widely considered ‘multilateralism-friendly’ – and is much more suitable for the integrated support at scale essential for achieving the SDGs.  The Joint SDG Fund’s flexibility in reallocating funds has also proven critical for rapid responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the Joint SDG Fund, the JPSRSP is supported by a number of countries, namely, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the European Union. [Ends]   Notes to Editors More information on the Joint Programme on Shock-Responsive Social Protection is found here. Read more about the Joint SDG Fund: https://jointsdgfund.org/ For more information, please contact: Ameen Andrew Alonto, Executive Director, Bangsamoro Information Office, andrew.alonto@bangsamoro.gov.ph Teresa Debuque, Communication Officer, UN Philippines, debuque@un.org

RISK-INFORMED SHOCK-RESPONSIVE SOCIAL PROTECTION JOINT PROGRAMME JOINT PROGRAMME TITLE: Ensuring inclusive and risk-informed shock-responsive social protection resulting in more resilient communities in BARMM. SUMMARY: With support from the Joint SDG Fund, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with the strategic guidance of the UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines, will work closely with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) through the BARMM Government, as lead, to create an enabling environment that will institutionalize a risk-informed shock-responsive social protection (RISR SP) system to help build the resilience of the most vulnerable populations in the region. The intervention in BARMM showcases an approach that institutionalizes and brings to scale through legislation and/or integration in relevant resilience programmes and policies of the regional government. The overarching goal of a shock-responsive social protection system is to help build the resilience of poor and vulnerable households by reducing their vulnerabilities and increasing their capacities to cope with, adapt, and prepare for natural (i.e., typhoons, earthquakes, droughts, floods, etc) and human-induced (i.e., armed conflicts) risks and disasters. KEY MESSAGES: Resilience building, partnering for impact, and innovative and context-specific solutions that we can bring to scale and institutionalize. KEY INTERVENTIONS and TARGET BENEFICIARIES: Mainstream RISR SP in the Bangsamoro Development Plan (BDP) which will serve as a catalyst for the development of a regional social protection operational framework that is risk-informed shock-responsive that has the potential to directly benefit the existing 396,000 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) households beneficiaries in BARMM during emergencies and cover additional 10% of the 2 exclusion error of Listahanan 3 to receive social assistance during emergencies, thus enabling the horizontal expansion of social assistance programs. The projected 10% additional households may include women, children, rural workers, and Indigenous Peoples; and members of the former combatants to be determined upon the release of Listahanan 3; Build the capacity of BARMM institutions to analyze and monitor both natural and human-induced risks and improve synergy and coordination between social protection programmes, climate change adaptation and disaster preparedness and management; and  Improve the poverty registry system to include risk and hazard vulnerability assessments, predictive analytics, inclusive targeting and effective monitoring. Innovative tools that will be developed will be simulated in partnership with BARMM institutions, CSOs, development partners and claim holders, using existing relevant social protection programs (such as, but not limited to, sustainable livelihood program, social pension or the 4Ps Conditional Cash Transfer) in the delivery of assistance to cover additional vulnerable households, as proof of concept.  To ensure sustainability and ownership of this Joint Programme, it shall also maximize the potential to leverage the regional government’s own financing (US$64 million and 5% of the net national internal revenue as annual block grant), and develop recommendations to unlock institutional funding bottlenecks on budget allocation, beneficiary enrollment and payments from ongoing loan financing of other development partners such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank to the 4Ps Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT). PROJECT DURATION: 1 February 2020 to 31 January 2022 (24 months). FOCALS/CONTACT PERSONS: Joint Programme Eden Lumilan, UN Resident Coordinator’s Office (eden.lumilan@one.un.org)  Maria Ruzzella Quilla, FAO (maria.quilla@fao.org) UN Philippines: Maria Teresa Debuque, UN Information Center - Manila (debuque@un.org) BARMM: Office of the BARMM Executive Secretary (barmm.cos@gmail.com) 
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT THE JOINT PROGRAMME WEBSITE: https://jointsdgfund.org/

The UN in the Philippines expresses its heartfelt congratulations to Journalist Maria Ressa on winning the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. The UN also express its congratulations to all people in the Philippines on this historical win. The Nobel Committee awarded the prize to Maria Ressa, together with Russian Journalist Dmitri Muratov for "their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace." The UN recognizes the role of a free and independent media as a cornerstone of democracy. Freedom of expression is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a fundamental right, and it is also an enabler of all other rights. In his global Call to Action for Human Rights (https://www.un.org/en/content/action-for-human-rights/index.shtml) the Secretary General called for “the promotion of laws and policies that protect the right to equal participation and civic space, including a free and independent media – a foundation of open, democratic societies…”. The Constitution of the Philippines also guarantees freedom of the press. The UN in the Philippines is actively engaging with the Government, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines and civil society to promote human rights, including civic space.