On 24-28, April 2023, the DSWD through the Disaster Response Management Bureau (DRMB) conducted the Workshop for the Finalization of the Guidelines on the institutionalization of the FACED at San Juan, La Union.

The activity was attended by DSWD Field Offices and Central Office personnel who are key players in disaster response data gathering, consolidation and reports generation. The workshop enhanced the FACED proposed guidelines through review and assessment and discuss the good practices of field offices during response operations. It also finalized the proposed guidelines for onward approval of DSWD principals and implementation.

The Family Access Card in Emergencies and Disasters (FACED) is a profiling tool used in collecting the demographic and socioeconomic data of disaster-vulnerable and disaster-affected families such as their name, age, sex, education, and income, as well as post-disaster data and information about damage to shelter and humanitarian assistance received.

FACED can be administered either as a preparedness, disaster-impact, or post-impact phase social registry form and serve as a family verification tool for accessing response and rehabilitation support interventions from the government and other stakeholders. The FACED includes the Vulnerability Assessment Index (VAI), which measures the risk exposure of a family and is used as a baseline for priority targeting.

Assistant Secretary for Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) Diana Rose S. Cajipe concluded the event encouraging the participants that their continuous efforts and collaborations is contributory to the institutionalization of DSWD social protection programs and services. “These guidelines shall be the basis of data collection towards the establishment of an information system geared towards the new DSWD’s data-driven social protection mechanism, digitalization and wider access to social services, database disaggregation and management that will help improve the design of disaster response interventions and rehabilitation programs provided by the Department,” Asec. Cajipe said.

DSWD upholds the importance of accurate and time-efficient data gathering, and will continue to capacitate its Field Offices for a more fast-tracked provision of services to disaster-affected families. #BawatBuhayMahalagaSaDSWD