From June 1-2, IPA Philippines conducted a two-day virtual capacity building workshop with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).The workshop is part of the ongoing partnership between IPA and the DSWD to provide technical expertise and build the in-house capacity of government staff to conduct research and evaluation projects and to improve monitoring capabilities for the different programs and projects of the Department.IPA led sessions on Introduction to Theory of Change & M&E Frameworks, Measurement and Survey Design, and Remote Data Collection.

On May 31, IPA presented the findings from the Digital Cash Transfers Monitoring Survey to the Policy and Plans Cluster of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).The study seeks to understand the beneficiary experience with the digitized system of payment transfers of the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP)—an emergency cash subsidy program to help low-income households affected by the pandemic.The results aim to provide the DSWD with baseline data to understand the barriers to access and user experience of digital cash transfers, and to inform policies on current and future cash transfer programs.