# **Box 1: The 4Ps and disaster preparedness**

Attendance at Family Development Sessions (FDS), held once a month, is one of the conditions for receipt of 4Ps grants. One of the topics covered teaches beneficiaries to be disaster-ready, including what warning messages to be aware of, and what items should be packed for evacuation, including identification documents, clothes, and other essentials. It represents one way in which a CCT can be used for ex-ante disaster preparedness at the household level. Post-Yolanda, FDS was also used to deliver information to the 4Ps households on how to recognize and address post-traumatic stress.

A 4Ps beneficiary’s Yolanda story shows the potential value of disaster preparedness education through FDS: _Christina, 33, knew that the heavy rains and powerful winds forecasted for typhoon ‘Yolanda’ could put her family in danger. Hence, before the storm made landfall in her province, she, her husband, and their three children, left their home for an evacuation center, bringing with them packed essentials such as a flashlight, food, and clothes. When Yolanda struck, Cristina’s family was among the millions whose homes and belongings were wiped out by the typhoon. The winds and surging waters tore off their roof and washed away everything, including furniture, school supplies, and even their treasured pictures and medals. Thanks to the lessons on community disaster risk reduction and preparedness that she learned in the Family Development Sessions (FDS), she was able to prepare for the typhoon’s onslaught by saving important documents, preparing emergency supplies, and getting her family to safety._ _Source: DSWD (2014) 2013 Annual Report, Manila._ Given the issues concerning the lack of understanding of the term “storm surge”, and the resultant loss of life, it is clear that understanding disaster communications is crucial to disaster preparedness and survival. FDS sessions provide a medium for increasing household awareness of pertinent disaster information that could save lives. It is understood that DSWD is currently developing new guidelines and content for family disaster preparedness FDS sessions, to be delivered in disaster prone municipalities.

To respond to the situation where the health and educations services are disrupted because of disaster and beneficiaries are not able to meet the CCT conditions, the 4Ps design includes a provision that suspends conditions for a limited period of time when a “state of calamity” is declared. After a disaster, it is unrealistic to assume that beneficiaries can meet the conditions of the CCT, especially in instances where the supply side may be down, with schools and health centers destroyed or being used for relief operations. As such, a resolution (NAC Resolution No. 13, Series 2013) was enacted by DSWD in July 2013 to codify the removal of Compliance Verification in cases of a “state of calamity, disaster, complexity and other exceptional cases”. The DSWD Regional Director of an affected area submits a request to deem all beneficiaries in the affected area as compliant to the 4Ps’ National Project Management Office. If approved at the level of the Secretary, beneficiaries will be deemed compliant for a maximum of three consecutive compliance verification periods (three months). This is not an unprecedented procedure, with the Bolsa Familia CCT program in Brazil having undertaken similar steps to deliver unconditional payments to beneficiaries affected by flooding in 2011.

<mark>The DSWD was able to use these protocols to deliver much needed cash, without conditions, to a large number of 4P beneficiaries over a relatively short time period. On 8 December, one month after the disaster, DSWD 4Ps staff conducted a massive validation exercise of the affected 4Ps beneficiaries as a first step in delivery. The purpose of the validation exercise was to 1) locate the 4Ps beneficiaries; 2) identify them from among other displaced households (in cases where they were residing in evacuation centers and resettlement areas); 3) validate and update the data profiles of the identified household</mark> 23