Questions/Answers

The Food Bank Project is one of the initiatives of the City Government which mainly aims to promote food security, food safety and good nutrition in the City of Cauayan, Isabela. Launched in December 2016 in line with the advocacy of City Mayor Bernard Dy in localizing the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG’s), particularly Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), the Food Bank is said to be the first hunger relief operations in the region acting as food storage and distribution center of food catering to people, especially indigent families and children, giving them free food in order to reduce hunger incidence and malnutrition. By virtue of Ordinance No. 2017-107, all establishments engaged in selling non-perishable goods are encouraged to deposit and donate such food items months before expiration of such goods to the Food Bank in order to be cooked, processed and be given to indigent families. Establishments found guilty of selling expired goods are to be penalized accordingly. In 2018, the Food Bank initiated the “120 Days Supplemental Rice Allowance Program” where underweight and severely underweight children who are under 5 years old and not enrolled in Day Care Centers were given supplemental rice allowance from the donations of the Cauayan City Rice Millers, in order to improve the nutritional status of these children. By January 2020, the Food Bank on Wheels or Mobile Kitchen was launched to extend food provision among indigent families living in far-flung areas, which has been very useful at this time of the Covid-19 pandemic. This project has substantially contributed for the decrease of malnutrition rate in the city among indigent pre-school children, from 1.34% in 2017 to 1.19% in 2020 and made Cauayan City the Hall of Fame awardee of the 2016 National Nutrition Award.

The Food Bank was established by virtue of Resolution No. 136, series of 2016 “creating the Cauayan City Food Bank that will form part of the Social Services Program of the LGU to help uplift the needs of marginalized sector of society in the City of Cauayan.” Its target beneficiaries are the indigent families and those living below poverty threshold, with the aim to provide this sector equal access to food, thus ensures food security for all while reducing hunger incidence and malnutrition in the city.

The Food Bank Project was launched in December 2016 in line with the city’s advocacy in actively localizing the UN SDG’s, particularly Goal 2 (Zero Hunger). This is in response to one of the goal’s targets to “end hunger and ensure access by all people to safe, nutritious and sufficient food,” as it caters to indigent families, giving them free food through mass feeding operations, thus ensures equal access to food and reduce hunger incidence in the city. From mass feeding, the operations of the Food Bank expanded in 2018 with the adoption of the “120 Days Supplemental Rice Allowance Program” where underweight and severely underweight children who are under 5 years old and not enrolled in Day Care Centers were given supplemental rice allowance from the donations of the Cauayan City Rice Millers, in order to improve the nutritional status of these children, thus targets to “end all forms of malnutrition, including stunting and wasting in children under 5 years old.”

To sustain its operations, the Food Bank is managed by the Cauayan City Green Ladies Organization, an NGO formed by women who actively works hand-in-hand with the local government in community service. The Food Bank also receives donations, either in cash or in kind, from individuals, NGO's and other agencies. This is one way of promoting volunteerism and collaboration among the three pillars of the society towards a collective action in ending hunger incidence and malnutrition in the city.

The initial implementation of the Food Bank Project includes Mass Feeding Program for identified indigent families. After which, the 120-day Rice Allowance Project was launched in 2018 where each underweight and severely underweight, indigent pre-school children under five (5) years old were given eighteen (18) kilo of rice that can sustain them for 120 days in order to monitor their nutritional status and really assess the impact of the project. From the assessment of the project conducted in 2017, records also showed that indigent families living in the far-flung areas (forest region) have not yet been accommodated by the Food Bank due to the distance of their location from the Food Bank center and due to the problem on transportation. To address these challenges, the Food Bank on Wheels/ Mobile Kitchen was launched. This did not only address the challenge on providing food assistance to remote barangays, but is very useful at this time of the Covid-19 pandemic when people are restricted to go out of their homes.

The Food Bank project targets all indigent families and underweight and severely underweight pre-school children under five (5) years old in the city regardless of their gender. The Food Bank project provides services where all beneficiaries are given equal treatment, and there is no priority or privilege given on the basis of gender.

The initial implementation of the Food Bank Project includes Mass Feeding Program which targets the indigent families living below poverty threshold. Since the time it was launched in 2016 up to date, there are a total of 52,826 indigent families already catered by the Food Bank project. To really create an impact, the 120-day Rice Allowance Project was launched in 2018 where each underweight and severely underweight, indigent pre-school children under five (5) years old were given eighteen (18) kilos of rice that can sustain them for 120 days in order to monitor their nutritional status. To date, a total of 120 children are recipients of rice allowance. With the 120-day Rice Allowance Program of the Food Bank, alongside with the other supplemental feeding programs conducted, the malnutrition rate among pre-school children has significantly decreased from 1.34% in 2017 to 1.19% in 2020.

The initial implementation of the Food Bank Project includes Mass Feeding Programs for indigent families. After which, the 120-day Rice Allowance Project was launched in 2018 in order to really see the impact of such feeding activities. Under this program, each underweight and severely underweight, indigent pre-school children under five (5) years old were given eighteen (18) kilo of rice that can sustain them for 120 days in order to monitor their nutritional status. From the assessment of the project conducted in 2017, records also showed that indigent families living in the far-flung areas (forest region) have not yet been accommodated by the Food Bank due to the distance of their location from the Food Bank center and due to the problem on transportation. Soon after, the Food Bank on Wheels/ Mobile Kitchen was launched. This did not only address the challenge on providing food assistance to remote barangays, but is very useful at this time of the Covid-19 pandemic when people are restricted to go out of their homes. Moving forward, the City Government plans to expand the operations of the Food Bank where it will establish its first Digital Circular Economy Bank that will serve as the central relief operations of the city that will not only provide food donations but will also include non-food items such as clothes, hygiene kits, cleaning materials, among others, so that there would be readily available assistance for families affected by any kind of disaster. This will be integrated with a digital dashboard that will provide an inventory of the donations and supplies of the LGU for a more transparent governance.

From the assessment conducted in 2017, records showed that indigent families living in far-flung areas (forest region) have not yet been accommodated by the Food Bank due to the distance of their location from the Food Bank center and due to the problem on transportation. To address these challenges, the Food Bank on Wheels/ Mobile Kitchen was launched where the volunteers, donors and members of the working committee of the Food Bank were the ones who visited such indigent families in their respective houses at scheduled dates instead of the latter visiting the Food Bank in the City Center.

Cauayan City’s Food Bank is the first hunger relief operations in the whole Philippines initiated by a local government, where it acts as food storage and distribution center of food catering to people, especially indigent families and children, giving them free food in order to reduce hunger incidence and malnutrition. It is as well a mechanism to increase awareness and volunteerism among the people, establishments, private sector and other agencies to donate food that could otherwise be thrown away and to get involved in the reduction of hunger incidence in the community.

The concept of the Cauayan City's Food Bank is a replication of the existing Food Bank Centers established in different foreign countries where they collect and distribute food to hunger-relief charities. The same with such other food bank center, the Cauayan City's Food Bank likewise accepts donations, either in cash or in kind, from individuals, NGO's, private sectors and other civil society organizations. However, in order to prevent full dependency of beneficiaries in the Food Bank and make them self-sufficient, the Cauayan City Food Bank also conducts Nutrition Programs to equip them on good nutrition practices.

The Food Bank is also actively used as a drop-off point and coordinator for all donation drives conducted by volunteers and civic-organizations. With this, the City Government plans to expand the operations of the Food Bank where it will establish its first Digital Circular Economy Bank that will serve as the central relief operations that will not only provide food but also non-food items such as clothes, hygiene kits, cleaning materials, among others. This will be integrated with a digital dashboard that will provide an inventory of the donations and supplies of the LGU for a more transparent governance.

At present, we do not know if there are other local government units which already initiated this kind of project such as the Food Bank, but since it was launched in Cauayan City in 2016, the City has received numerous invitations to speak in different engagements to share this best practice with hopes that other local government units will replicate the same.

Every local government unit has its own take in resolving the problem of hunger and malnutrition in its respective community, and budget has certainly been appropriated for that concern. When the Food Bank project was implemented in the City of Cauayan, one of its aims is to inspire and show other LGU's that Cauayan City may be the benchmark for this kind of project. It only requires that there must be an office or space designated to serve as food center or food storage, people to be appointed as members of the working committee, budget for the maintenance of its operations, and an ordinance or resolution to provide for guidelines on how such food bank will be operated and sustained. It is with high hopes that other cities will be inspired by the humble experience of Cauayan City, that if this project can be done in a small, poor in terms of income and highly-agricultural community like Cauayan City, then there is no reason for other cities which are bigger and those in the metropolitan regions not to be able to replicate the same.

Percentage of the budget from the Social Services and Gender and Development Funds of the Local Government Unit of Cauayan City were utilized for the operation and over-all management of the Food Bank. Such budget was also used for the construction of the office space which served as the food center or food storage, and other cooking materials. Employees from the City Nutrition Office were also designated as members of the working committee who maintains the food center.

In order to sustain the project, it was legislated into an ordinance or a law which provides for the guidelines for the over-all management of the operations of the Food Bank. Since it is already a law, it will continue its operations regardless if there happens a change in the political set-up of the local government. The Food Bank is also sustained by donations from the different sectors of the community, in addition to the annual budget allocated by the local government for the operations and maintenance of the center.

Yes

The local government of Cauayan City conducts an internal evaluation annually of the Food Bank project's accomplishments to determine if it is making an impact to the lives of the city's constituents, particularly the indigent families and malnourished pre-school children. In addition to the annual internal evaluation, the local government has also embarked on getting ISO Certification 37122 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). With this, the Food Bank is one of the projects of the local government that is currently undergoing gap assessment audits.

For the internal evaluation that is conducted by the local government annually, the main indicators used to assess the performance and achievements of the Food Bank project include the following: (a) Total number of foods served; (b) Total number of beneficiaries; (c) Total number of donors and monetary equivalent of donations; and (d) The change in the total number of malnourished pre-school children (five-year old below) and the percentage of malnourished prevalence. The fourth indicator is very vital for the local government to assess whether the Food Bank is making an impact in reducing malnourishment and hunger in the city.

The main findings of the internal evaluation showed that the Food Bank is an effective initiative that helps the local government achieve its goal of ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition in the city by 2030 (SDG No. 2). Since the project's inception, the total number of malnourished pre-school children in the city, as well as the prevalence of malnutrition, has consistently declined. Yet, it was also found in the local government's internal evaluation that limited resources remain a main challenge to the continuous implementation of the Food Bank. This is the reason why the local government's partnership with the private sector and other agencies is a vital component to the sustainability of the initiative. With tens of thousands of beneficiaries, the Food Bank is definitely an important local hunger relief operations project that should be sustained in the long run.

The local government of Cauayan City operates the Food Bank project using a combination of appropriated public funds and resources from private businesses, individuals, civil societies, and other participating institutions. Through a horizontal relationship, the local government partners with the women-led NGO Cauayan City Green Ladies Organization and different private institutions to achieve its purpose of providing free food to the community to ultimately end hunger and all forms of malnutrition. Challenges and experiences are shared among the partner institutions for continuous improvement of the project's processes. In the City of Cauayan, a physical space has been created to house the Food Bank project, which serves as the main repository and storage of various food items to be distributed to the indigent families who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger. With this setup, the Food Bank project is well inscribed within the the city's institutional landscape.

The Food Bank Project is a ground-breaking initiative of the City Government of Cauayan, through the leadership of its City Mayor. During the designing and conceptualization stage, the Office of the City Mayor, the Local Legislative Office, as well as the academe, worked hand-in-hand to formally realize the project. And since the City Mayor firmly believes that collaboration and partnership is an essential element for the long-term sustainability of the project, different agencies and institutions have been involved along the way. The main stakeholders that contributed towards the implementation of the project were: (a) the City Nutrition Office, which is part of the working committee that maintains the food center; (b) the Cauayan City Green Ladies Organization, a local NGO that helps in the management of the project; (c) the Cauayan City Rice Millers, who are regular donors of rice; and (d) Other agencies, private institutions and private individuals who also provide donations, either in cash or in kind. By maintaining this inclusive partnership with various institutions and agencies, the operations of the Food Bank Project become more sustainable.

If an institution, however poor and small it is, is determined to accomplish something, it will find a way to undertake it regardless of challenges and obstacles. This is the case for the Cauayan City's Food Bank project. Despite the limited resources and funds that the local government has, it did not stop it from finding ways and implementing small but impactful programs to improve the standard of living of the local community, especially the indigent families in the city. Through the Food Bank project, the local government, in collaboration with various public and private institutions and NGOs, is gradually reducing hunger and malnutrition in the city. Through regular internal evaluations of the project, the local government of Cauayan can determine the successes and failures of the project, as well as the strengths and weaknesses. The findings of these evaluations can be used by the local government to continuously improve the initiative. For instance, due to the results of the evaluation conducted in 2017 that showed indigent families living in the far-flung areas have not yet been served by the Food Bank due to the distance and transportation problems, the Food Bank on Wheels/ Mobile Kitchen was launched.