BARMM, UN to give cash aid to 1,800 poor farming families

A total of 1,800 indigent farming families at the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will receive emergency cash assistance as part of the partnership between the Bangsamoro government and the United Nations (UN).

The aid distribution, to be carried out by the Food and Agricultural Organization and the Ministry of Social Services and Development will complement the national government's social amelioration program.

BARMM has signed a social protection program partnership with the UN that aims to benefit those vulnerable in the region, Bangsamoro chief minister Ahod “Al Haj Murad” Ebrahim announced Thursday.

According to a statement, the social protection program aims to reduce social and economic risk and vulnerability and to ease extreme poverty. 

Ebrahim said the partnership is “an intervention that will institutionalize a risk-informed shock-responsive social protection system.”

“[The direction of this program] will also pave [the] way for a Bangsamoro that is compliant and prioritizes the global call to subscribe in the Sustainable Development Goals,” Ebrahim said.

“Planning and acting early through shock-responsive social protection, before a disaster has happened, or reached its critical peak, can save lives and protect livelihoods from the immediate shocks while increasing the resilience of local communities over time,” Gustavo Gonzalez, the UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator, added.

The partnership also highlights the government’s commitment to ensure that the region is prepared after the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

“I am immensely excited for the eventual outcomes and hopefully, its lasting impact on Bangsamoro communities who desire nothing more but a more peaceful life with opportunities that lie ahead for them,” Ebrahim said. —Joahna Lei Casilao/LDF, GMA News