BARMM, UN assess gains in social protection programme in BARMM and ways forward

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:

1. 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;
2. 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 
3. 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/