Standard Project Report 2016
Country Resources and Results
Resources for Results
Funding for this PRRO has been mixed. While the Capacity Development and Augmentation component has been well-supported through multi-year earmarked support from the United States Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, the overall direct multilateral funding levels for the country remained low for the implementation of food and cash-based interventions. Only the school meals component received support from various private donors, and nearly full coverage was ensured. In order to address the gaps, the WFP country office received a Strategic Resource Allocation Committee allotment of USD 1.2 million and accessed immediate response account funding to address the immediate food needs of people affected by El Niño( USD 1 million). The PRRO had built in a contingency component to allow for an immediate response to the frequent rapid onset emergencies. While there have been a number of typhoons making landfall in the country, the Government of the Philippines did not request international support. Nevertheless, the contingency component was activated to mitigate the impact of El Niño.
WFP Philippines regularly revised its allocation of resources to accommodate operational changes and in September 2016, a budget revision for the PRRO was done in order to optimise available resources for school meals and nutrition activities. Direct support costs were also reduced to reflect cost savings measures implemented by the country office( reduction of service provider charges), while the capacity development and augmentation budget was increased for policy development and advocacy for food security and nutrition-related activities.
Likewise, a budget revision for the special operation was requested and adapted in the context of funding shortfalls. The budget revision featured: 1) the de-scoping of the planned establishment of a disaster response centre in Clark since the National Response Operations Centre( NROC) was seen to have enough capacity to cover the Luzon island; 2) a prioritisation of either the Visayas or Mindanao facility either for construction or rehabilitation based on available sites and warehouses identified by government counterparts in each location, with the most cost-efficient and strategically effective solution selected; and 3) a de-scoping of the response options component of the special operation and engagement with national counterparts in programmatic planning of the PRRO.
A review of the expenditures for utilities, staffing, and other direct support costs was carried out and resulted in the downsizing of the number of country office staff-members, vehicles and warehouses.
WFP engaged extensively with the local donor community. In particular, a country strategic review is expected to foster interest and engagement of traditional, non-traditional and local donors. The review has been commissioned to an independent consultant and is guided by a policy review group under the stewardship of the Vice President of the Philippines. The review will be concluded in 2017 and will contribute to the future strategic vision of WFP in supporting the Government ' s agenda. As the Government is still finalising its next development plan and its engagement with the international community, the donor community has not yet determined future support, impacting negatively on the funding outlook for 2017.
Achievements at Country Level
Overall, WFP Philippines reached 175,000 people in need in 2016 with 3,835 mt of food items, including the use of cash based transfers amounting to USD 1.46 million. From April 2015 to September 2016, support was provided to food-insecure communities by engaging 30 local government units, 11 non-governmental organizations( NGOs) and eight academic institutions to harness their disaster preparedness and response capacities. In September 2016, WFP began a new phase to create more partnerships with additional local government units, thereby supporting a total of nine provinces and 38 municipalities in 2016 and 2017.
During the first half of 2016, Mindanao was seriously affected by the El Niño. The drought correlated with El Niño reduced the ability of farming communities to grow crops to meet their nutritional needs. In response, an Emergency Food Security Assessment was conducted by WFP and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
WFP also provided ready-to-use supplementary food, Plumpy ' Sup, to children aged 6-23 months in the provinces of North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte, Quezon, Aurora and some slum areas in Manila. The areas were selected in consultation with the National Nutrition Council, using carryover stocks of Plumpy ' Sup from the Typhoon Haiyan operation to mitigate the effects of the El Niño on the existing acutely malnourished children aged 6-23 months.
For the first time since its rollout at the end of 2015, WFP Philippines used the SCOPE platform, WFP ' s beneficiary and transfer management system, to manage the end-to-end process of its cash based transfers. This included the biometric registration of people participating in WFP ' s asset-creation programme, which was piloted in Central
Philippines, Republic of the( PH) 7 Single Country PRRO- 200743