MANILA, 21 September 2021--The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is showing how schools in the country can continue to provide meals to children despite schools staying closed for in-person classes.

At a high-level discussion organized by the United Nations (UN) Philippines today, Deputy Minister Haron Meling of Basic, Higher, Technical Education in the BARMM reported that, “in the current school year the BARMM is targeting to feed 160,000 learners in the Bangsamoro and in 63 barangays in North Cotabato which recently joined BARMM.”

In 2020, BARMM spent Php336 million, or Php17 per child per day, on meals consisting of iron fortified rice, fruits and vegetables with green mongo, anchovies, and dried fish.

Director Lope Santos of the Department of Education (DepEd) Bureau of Learner Support Services said that amid the pandemic, the DepEd school-based feeding program has fed 3.5 million learners from more than 34,000 schools during school year SY 2020-2021.

Meling said that UN agencies have been supporting BARMM’s school feeding programme.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has helped to develop the rules and regulations of the national school feeding law and has carried out assessments of the program to determine gaps in implementation. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) supports the procurement of locally produced food and the implementation of community-based feeding interventions.

More recently, the UN has expressed its support to the Philippines, in particular the DepEd, to join the global School Meals Coalition which aims to ensure that every child has the opportunity to receive a healthy, nutritious meal by 2030.

The School Meals Coalition emerged from the Food Systems Summit (FSS) process led by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Governments have joined forces with development agencies, donors, academia, the private sector, UN agencies and civil society organizations to build the School Meals Coalition.

This coalition will help to address the COVID-19 pandemic by bringing together governments, United Nations agencies, intergovernmental organizations, civil society, the private sector and academia to drive actions that can urgently re-establish, improve and scale-up school meals programmes in low, lower middle, upper middle and high income countries around the world.

France is also supporting the DepEd’s commitment to the School Meals Coalition.

The High-Level Discussion called Beyond the Plate: Reinventing Food Systems is a three-day series of discussions being convened by the UN Philippines within the framework of the Global Food Systems Summit (FSS) taking place in New York on 23 September.

Notes to Editors:

A recording of the discussion is available here.

For more information, please contact:

Teresa Debuque
National Information Officer
Resident Coordinator Office--UN Philippines
Email: debuque@un.org

According to a recent report by the UN Secretary General, “we are at an inflection point in our history” with humanity facing an urgent choice between a breakdown or a breakthrough.  The Coronavirus, conflict and climate change are wrecking havoc and undermining our ability to reach development goals. Poverty, discrimination and violence mean that millions of people around the world are denied “health, safety, a vaccination against disease, clean water to drink, a plate of food or a seat in a classroom”. Our Common Agenda emphasizes the need for solidarity and cooperation to address these and other challenges facing the world today. Central to this, the UN Secretary General calls for a revival of the social contract – the arrangements and understandings of how people find solutions to shared problems, manage risks, deliver public goods, and implement norms and values. Mirroring the UN Secretary General’s call, the global theme for the International Day of Peace, celebrated on 21 September every year is “Recovering better for an equitable and sustainable world”.  This reflects an increasing understanding that the essence of peace cannot be found in Security Council resolutions or treaties but is about the myriad of large and small actions and decisions that impact on individuals, families and communities. An equitable and sustainable world is one where people have access to food, to security, to education and health, and to justice. Where people are empowered to participate in decisions that affect them, and consider their impact on the environment. Consequently, efforts towards peace must address a broad range of factors that drive conflict and inequality. In the Philippines, an increasing number of joint interventions bring together different areas of expertise from within the UN system to collaborate with national actors in the search for comprehensive solutions for current challenges. For example, by implementing programmes to strengthen social protection systems and resilience in BARMM, the UN is contributing to ongoing Government efforts to reach the most vulnerable groups and build more peaceful societies where the rights of all citizens are protected and realized.  Efforts to resolve the conflict in BARMM ultimately hinges not only on transformation to nonviolent means of expressing grievances, but also on the Government’s ability to provide social protection, to empower people, and to overcome patterns of discrimination and marginalization. Global experience has shown that women, youth and other often overlooked groups are critical stakeholders who have much to contribute at all stages of peacebuilding. When we insist on inclusive processes that give space to a wide range of community voices, we ensure that agreements  are meaningful for those who have been most impacted by conflict – by paving the way for schools, livelihoods and the freedom to exercise one’s culture. This must also include protecting those who speak out against injustice, for the protection of the environment or to secure fair working conditions. These are all steps that are needed to restore the social contract. The human rights framework provides a vehicle for such participatory approaches, and the interdependence between human rights and peace is increasingly recognized internationally. Placing human rights at the center of peace and reconciliation efforts can help to address underlying causes of conflict, such as poverty, inequality and discrimination. It also contributes to a victim-focused approach which promotes rule of law and justice. A society without violence is in a better position to provide a high level of respect for its political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights. The Philippines is in many ways a microcosm of the many challenges that are the starting point of Our Common Agenda. Climate change, internal conflict and the impact of coronavirus hamper progress towards no poverty, zero hunger and good health. The Government, through social protection initiatives, job creation and other initiatives in the Philippine Development Plan (2017 -2022) is taking steps towards addressing some of these challenges, and the United Nations is ready to support these efforts.   The world, and the Philippines, are at an inflection point – but inflection points provide us with opportunities to step up and make the right choices, internationally and within countries. When we recover better for a more equitable and sustainable world, we also lay the foundation for development, human rights and peace.

20 September 2021 (Manila)—More than 700 online participants from the private sector, civil society groups, government, and media, tuned in to the first of a three-part series organized by the United Nations (UN) Philippines in support of the global Food Systems Summit (FSS) happening on September 23, Thursday at the UN Headquarters in New York, USA. The first session of “Beyond the Plate: Reinventing Food Systems” focused on ensuring food security in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) through its Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) Roadmap. The panelists were Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, Bangsamoro Planning and Development Authority (BPDA) Director General Mohajirin Ali, World Bank Operations Manager for the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Brunei Achim Fock, President of Federation of Women Associations Amelita Piang, Officer-in-charge and World Food Programme Head of Programme Giorgi Dolidze. These discussions are the UN Philippines contribution to the Global FSS that is being led by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to call attention to the need to make progress in the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs, which we should achieve by 2030, or less than 10 years from now. The COVID-19 pandemic has stalled or even reversed hard-won gains made by the Philippines and other countries in the SDGs. And while the COVID-19 response is taking priority today, we have to emphasize that recovering or building back better from the pandemic is linked to progress in the SDGs.  

Over the past 18 months, the Summit has brought together all UN Member States and constituencies around the world – including thousands of youth, food producers, Indigenous Peoples, civil society, researchers, private sector, and the UN system – to bring about tangible, positive changes to the world’s food systems.  

The Philippines held the National Food Systems Dialogue last July, and it was convened by Secretary William Dar of the Department of Agriculture.  

Our discussions are distinct from past FSS related dialogues in two ways:

(1) their emphasis on dimensions/aspects of food systems whose reinforcement are vital to the interests of Philippine sectors that are furthest behind; and  

(2) their commitment to inclusivity through their focus on the issues that are vital to stakeholder groups that were not able to fully participate in the Philippine National Food System Dialogue.   Watch the recording of the first session or to register for the next sessions on September 22 and September 23 featuring discussions on the Promotion of Accessible and Sustainable Food Consumption through Social Safety Nets, and Strengthening the Livelihood Resilience of Food Producers.  

For the first time the Women’s Peace & Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) has opened a window to support civil society organizations working in the Philippines. Proposals are invited for interventions that focus on finding ways to increase women’s participation in the women, peace and security agenda in the Philippines as well as enhancing women’s decision-making in conflict prevention processes and response.  About the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund. Composed of representatives from donors, United Nations entities, and civil society organizations, the WPHF is a global pooled funding mechanism which aims to re-energize action and stimulate a significant increase in financing for women’s participation, leadership, and empowerment in peace and security processes and humanitarian response. The WPHF is a flexible and rapid financing mechanism. It supports quality interventions designed to enhance the capacity of local women to prevent conflict, respond to crises and emergencies, and seize key peacebuilding opportunities. Nature and scope of the Call for Proposals. The WPHF will fund qualifying projects in Philippines. The projects must focus on one country. Multi- country projects will NOT be accepted. The focus of this WPHF call for proposals will be on increasing women’s participation in advocating for and ensuring accountability on the WPS agenda as well as on enhancing decision-making of women in conflict prevention processes and response. This call for proposals also provides the opportunity for civil society organizations, working on the implementation of the WPS agenda in Philippines, to reinforce their institutional capacities. It is encouraged for proposals to ensure gender is mainstreamed throughout all stages of the programme cycle. Proposals are also expected to identify how the application organization will utilize the grant to support coordination objectives, including coordination with other WPS actors. Special attention will be provided to applications supporting women and girls experiencing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, such as those marginalized and excluded due to poverty, ethnicity, disability, age, geography, conflict, migratory status, HIV status, among others, which is in clear alignment with the 2030 Agenda and the principle of leaving no one behind. More information, guidelines and the Application Form are found here.