Pilot phase of the Government of the Philippines Food e-Voucher Programme

The proposed US$500,000 TA grant will co-finance a US$2.59 million pilot project to be implemented by the World Food Program (WFP) in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) of the Philippines and cofinanced by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This pilot phase of the Government Food e-Voucher Programme called Walang Gutom (No Hunger) 2027 will address hunger and malnutrition in five regions of the Philippines. The President of Philippines Marcos Ferdinand Jr. publicly announced the Walang Gutom Programme as a new high-priority government initiative to improve the access of one million food-poor Filipino households to nutritious food. Supporting this pilot phase will open up an opportunity for the OPEC Fund to resume cooperation with Philippines through its sovereign lending window (last operation approved in 2004) as the scale up phase of the Programme is planned to start in 2024. This was underscored in the letter from the Government dated August 11, 2023, requesting financial support for the pilot and expressing its interest to see the OPEC Fund also supporting the scale up phase of the Food Stamp Program “Walang Gutom 2027”.