Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian met with Ambassador of Finland to the Philippines Juha Markus Pyykkö and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Country Representative Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov in separate courtesy calls on March 27 to discuss possible cooperation in various areas of social protection and development.
In his meeting with Pyykkö, Gatchalian discussed DSWD's initiatives to streamline its current programs and processes and revitalize its Social Welfare and Development Center for Asia and the Pacific (SWADCAP) as an academy to better equip and train the social service workforce, especially social workers; non-government organizations; local government personnel and other service providers who offer and implement social protection packages.
Gatchalian also pointed out that the DSWD is gathering best practices, contents, and training modules for the academy.
In response, Pyykkö introduced the study on the Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) Programme of the Finnish Government.
The study, led by the Finnish Center of Expertise in Education and Development or FinCEED, aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of coverage, gaps, effective and enabling interventions, and recommendations for the implementation of the HGSF in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Furthermore, the Ambassador expressed his commitment to share the study with the DSWD.
Gatchalian said the study can be adapted by the DSWD for its Supplementary Feeding Program and can also be used in the academia.
In a separate meeting, Gatchalian met with UNICEF representatives to expand cooperation on child protection.
The DSWD plans to assess its Centers and Residential Care Facilities and upskill and equip house parents and other professional practitioners within the centers.
Gatchalian also recommended actions to be taken in relation to promoting path-finding models to end violence against children at the local level.
Dendevnorov promised to share their best practices, assist the DSWD in the assessment of the centers, and offered to participate in the academy by sharing their modules and train the trainers in the academy in the fields of social protection, poverty reduction, and planning and budgeting.