X
  • Contact Us
  • Join Our Team
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Technical Areas
      • Overview of Technical Areas
      • Agriculture and Food Security
      • Corporate Partnerships
      • Democracy and Governance
      • Economic Growth and Trade
      • Education and Youth
      • Environment and Natural Resources
      • Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
      • Health
      • Peace, Stability, and Transition
      • Supply Chain Management
      • Water, Energy, and Sustainable Cities
    • Integrated Solutions
      • Overview of Integrated Solutions
      • Innovation
      • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
      • Research and University Partnerships
    • Projects
      • Overview of Projects
      • Matchmaking Businesses and Investors in DRC
      • Promoting Dialogue to Build Peace in Mali
      • Building Climate Finance Capacity in Nepal
      • View All Projects
  • Where We Work
    • Where We Work
    • Implementation Regions
      • Overview of Implementation Regions
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Europe and Eurasia
      • Latin America and the Caribbean
      • Middle East and North Africa
    • Corporate Offices
      • Overview of Corporate Offices
      • United States
      • United Kingdom
  • Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • About Chemonics
      • Overview of About Chemonics
      • Our Mission and Values
      • Our History
      • Our Leadership Team
      • Board of Directors
      • Our Specialists
    • Our Approach
      • Overview of Our Approach
      • Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
      • Our Commitment to Our Industry
      • Our Commitment to Quality
      • Our Commitment to Integrity
  • Work With Us
    • Work With Us
    • Life at Chemonics
      • Overview of Life at Chemonics
      • Our Benefits
      • Career Paths
      • Professional Development
    • Our Partners
      • Overview of Our Partners
      • Our Procurements
      • Become a Partner
      • One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS)
    • Employment
      • Overview of Employment
      • Careers
      • Internships
      • Consultants
      • U.S. Military Veterans
  • News and Blog
    • News and Blog
    • Recent Impact Stories
      • Overview of Recent Impact Stories
      • Investing in Tomorrow’s Supply Chain by Empowering Youth in Benin
      • Playing Matchmaker for Farmers and Buyers in Georgia
      • Approaching 95-95-95 HIV/AIDS Goals by Focusing on Patients
      • View all Impact Stories
    • Recent News Stories
      • Overview of Recent News Stories
      • Chemonics and Reading Partners Bring High-Quality Literacy Tutoring to D.C. Elementary Schools
      • Chemonics Publishes News Peace and Stabilization Toolkit
      • Chemonics International Earns “Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality” Designation
      • View all News Stories
    • Recent Blog Posts
      • Overview of Recent Blog Posts
      • Where in the World are those Private Sector Partners?
      • 3 Questions with Dany Khy on Chemonics’ New Center for Private Sector Engagement
      • What Does a Systems Approach to Conflict Prevention Look Like?
      • View all Blog Posts
Chemonics - Development works here.
  • Contact Us
  • Join Our Team
  • What We Do
    • Technical Areas
      • Agriculture and Food Security
      • Corporate Partnerships
      • Democracy and Governance
      • Economic Growth and Trade
      • Education and Youth
      • Environment and Natural Resources
      • Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
      • Health
      • Peace, Stability, and Transition
      • Supply Chain Management
      • Water, Energy, and Sustainable Cities
    • Integrated Solutions
      • Innovation
      • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
      • Research and University Partnerships
    • Projects
      • Matchmaking Businesses and Investors in DRC
      • Promoting Dialogue to Build Peace in Mali
      • Building Climate Finance Capacity in Nepal
      • View All Projects
  • Where We Work
    • Implementation Regions
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Europe and Eurasia
      • Latin America and the Caribbean
      • Middle East and North Africa
    • Corporate Offices
      • United States
      • United Kingdom
  • Who We Are
    • About Chemonics
      • Our Mission and Values
      • Our History
      • Our Leadership Team
      • Board of Directors
      • Our Specialists
    • Our Approach
      • Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
      • Our Commitment to Our Industry
      • Our Commitment to Quality
      • Our Commitment to Integrity
  • Work With Us
    • Life at Chemonics
      • Our Benefits
      • Career Paths
      • Professional Development
    • Our Partners
      • Our Procurements
      • Become a Partner
      • One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS)
    • Employment
      • Careers
      • Internships
      • Consultants
      • U.S. Military Veterans
  • News and Blog
    • Recent Impact Stories
      • Investing in Tomorrow’s Supply Chain by Empowering Youth in Benin
      • Playing Matchmaker for Farmers and Buyers in Georgia
      • Approaching 95-95-95 HIV/AIDS Goals by Focusing on Patients
      • View all Impact Stories
    • Recent News Stories
      • Chemonics and Reading Partners Bring High-Quality Literacy Tutoring to D.C. Elementary Schools
      • Chemonics Publishes News Peace and Stabilization Toolkit
      • Chemonics International Earns “Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality” Designation
      • View all News Stories
    • Recent Blog Posts
      • Where in the World are those Private Sector Partners?
      • 3 Questions with Dany Khy on Chemonics’ New Center for Private Sector Engagement
      • What Does a Systems Approach to Conflict Prevention Look Like?
      • View all Blog Posts

Relief Is Just an App Away in the Philippines.

August 13, 2020
  • Impact Stories
  • Relief Is Just an App Away in the Philippines
How does a country with a cash-based economy quickly provide subsidies during the COVID-19 pandemic and economic slowdown? In the Philippines, the government and the USAID E-PESO activity have collaborated with the private sector to create an app that provides fast financial relief to millions of people.
SHARE

TwitterFacebookLinkedIn

As with many citizens in the Philippines, Jesson Galvez’s job was affected by COVID-19. A resident of Trece Martires, he and his common law partner Divine Grace Penaflor sold used clothes but could not go out due to nationwide community quarantine.

“We had great difficulty,” Jesson said. “We have no other jobs, and we ended up selling things we owned just so we can buy food. Overall, it was very hard for us.”

Concerned about how he would support his family, Jesson learned about emergency cash subsidies distributed by the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) in the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). DSWD distributed the first tranche of SAP funds in May.

Jesson was among the first 18 million to receive funds. However, due to manual registration by DSDW, five million families were waitlisted. Other issues occurred nationwide, due also to the manual distribution of cash and the lack of beneficiary data. In one case, an entire community waived their benefits slots so others, in greater need, could get assistance. To better help low-income families affected by the pandemic, DSDW needed to address issues with manual registration and dispensing hard currency.

Jesson Galvez and Divine Grace Penaflor, whose family business struggled economically due to COVID-19, were among the first to receive emergency subsidies before the ReliefAgad app.

The Problem with Cash

Hard currency is not the best form of money during the COVID-19 pandemic when social distancing is essential. A single bill could pass through scores of hands in a typical day. Any other time, this would be socially accepted, but it has become a matter of concern now. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently encouraged people to use digital payment options as a deterrent to the spread of the coronavirus. In addition, with the manual distribution of cash, local government units (LGUs) require significant resources to secure and handle the bills, not to mention the importance of transparency and properly transporting the currency across the Philippines’ 7,641 islands.

Jesson remembered some of the challenges during the first tranche of manually distributed SAP funds. “I had to walk at least one hour to reach the place where they gave out the cash (a covered basketball court),” he said. “When I got there at 9:00 a.m., the line was already very long. I was afraid that there might have been a COVID positive person in the crowd.”

To receive SAP funds, citizens needed to complete a Social Amelioration Card (SAC). During the first tranche of funds, recipients submitted their data non-electronically and LGUs manually encoded or batch uploaded the data. The Philippine government believed it needed a more efficient 21st century solution.

A “Prompt” Digital Solution

To improve the distribution of emergency cash, the government of the Philippines approached the USAID E-PESO Activity (implemented by Chemonics) and Developers Connect Philippines (DEVCON) to create the ReliefAgad app. This app streamlines the capture of SAC data and dispersal of relief funds by using an e-wallet or bank account that enables DSWD to send aid directly to beneficiaries, using the e-payment systems of the regional banking industry.

The Philippine government sought the help of E-PESO due to USAID’s past work in the country. Since March 2015, E-PESO continues the progress of USAID’s Microenterprise Access to Banking Services projects, which ran from 1997 to 2012. As a result of that work to increase access to financial services in the Philippines, more than 700 bank locations dispersed $900 million in microfinance loans.

E-PESO, through its collaboration with local partners, field tested, designed, deployed, and provided overall project management for the ReliefAgad app (derived from the Filipino word for “prompt”). Meanwhile, DEVCON, a non-profit organization promoting Filipino IT talent, assembled a team of volunteer software developers and created the system.

A marketing photo for the ReliefAgad app.

The app works by having recipients complete a SAC form, which contains a unique barcode. The recipient then scans the barcode using a smartphone and the app to confirm that the form is valid prior to encoding the individual’s personal information on the reliefagad.ph website. After registering their SAC form, the data goes directly to DSWD. The app also allows citizens to enroll their bank or e-money accounts for faster, direct deposit payments. DSWD receives fast, accurate information, while recipients receive their funds in a timely manner.

Joyce Villanueva, a manicurist from Kawit, Cavite, registered for SAC through the app. “It’s a good thing we learned about ReliefAgad,” she said. “We found the instructions easy, and we did not have a difficult time registering for it.”

Applicants who do not own a smartphone can use someone else’s to apply. As long as they have access to the phone number, they are registered for the one-time passcodes. To aid those beneficiaries with any app challenges, USAID has facilitated the development of a daily customer support hotline (8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.), a Facebook Messenger chat facility, and a digital user guide.

The Value of Public and Private Partnerships

Beyond DEVCON providing software developers, the app’s creation involved feedback and resources from multiple public and private sector actors, which will ensure the digital beneficiary registration system will work for the current pandemic as well as for future emergency or social subsidy programs uses (see video below for more information about the design process for the app). Private-sector partners include Amazon Web Services (cloud services), PLDT Group and Smart Communications (website whitelisting), and SM Group and the BDO Foundation (for one-time password short message services). Meanwhile, the Department of Information and Communications Technology provided IT infrastructure and cybersecurity support. And banks and e-money issuers collaborated with the app team to identify ways to seamlessly process new accounts for app users. 

ReliefAgad Is a Net Positive

As of August 3, 2020, a total of 8,979,360 beneficiary families nationwide (63%) have received subsidies through digital and manual payout. Registration for the app was closed as of June 25, with 4.3 million who registered then, and in mid-July the second tranche of disbursements began. Overall, responses from beneficiaries have been positive.

Roy Mendoza, a fisherman based in Binangonan, Rizal, was unable to sell his fish due to lockdown. “The second tranche through ReliefAgad registration was easy, faster, and safer because I did not have to mix with other people and be scared about COVID,” he said.

Myla Bautista, an egg seller in Morong, Rizal, was also unable to sell her eggs due to the community quarantine. However, through ReliefAgad, she invested the funds into her business. “I used part of the money as capital for restarting my egg and cooking oil business that I now sell at home and also in the market that opened recently.”

Roy Mendoza, whose fishing business has suffered during the pandemic, used the ReliefAgad app to receive emergency funds without risking exposure to COVID-19 in crowds.

What Happens Next

The E-PESO Project is anticipated to end in February 2021; however, ReliefAgad was designed in collaboration with DSWD to ensure the agency has ownership of the app — in terms of management and knowledge of its value.

After USAID support ends, DEVCON will sustain the app, which it developed with no cost to DSWD. The non-profit will retain the IP rights to the system, with DSWD having unrestricted use in perpetuity.

It is uncertain how long people like Jesson will need SAP funds from DSWD, but at least he and his family will receive help in a more efficient and consistent way.

“ReliefAgad is a blessing and helped us a lot because it made everything very convenient and fast,” Jesson said. “The money has helped us meet the immediate needs of my family. We are very thankful and grateful.”

Related Projects


An Alternative to Cash in the Philippines
View All Projects
19 0
  • Related Projects
  • Impact Stories
  • News and Blog
hands holding red and yellow coffee beans

Matchmaking Businesses and Investors in DRC

Driving inclusive growth in eastern DRC will require private investment in the region’s promising businesses.

Building Climate Finance Capacity in Nepal

Strengthening Nepali local governments’ ability to manage green funds can spur investment in and accelerate climate action.

Developing Sustainable Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina

A comprehensive approach to tourism can improve Bosnia and Herzegovina’s economy and foster social harmony.

Transforming Jordan’s Recycling Industry

Waste recycling services in Jordan constitute a viable commercial opportunity for Jordan’s private and public sectors to increase the competitiveness of recycling and invigorate the circular economy.

Sowing Stronger Markets in Kyrgyzstan

With stronger markets in place, Kyrgyzstan’s agricultural-led economy can flourish.

Generating Jobs and Growth in Tunisia

Economic and political stability in Tunisia hinges on sustainable employment opportunities.

Promoting Private Sector Employment in Lebanon

A stronger business environment for private enterprises in Lebanon will help increase employment opportunities for Lebanese citizens.

Assisting Armenia’s Elderly Population Through Pension Reform

Armenia is taking steps to improve social and economic protections for its elderly citizens.

Supporting Economic Development in Serbia

Serbia improved its economy by strengthening local economic administrative processes and by encouraging citizens to participate more actively in economic affairs.

A New Framework for Local Governance in Moldova

A targeted effort to strengthen local governments in Moldova has increased public trust in them and improved how they deliver services.

Transparency in Finance

A dependable network infrastructure in Haiti would mean more reliable financial management and a more transparent government.

Bananas

A Fruitful Future for Bangladesh

Healthy market systems in Bangladesh can help agribusinesses flourish while sowing the seeds for food security.

Spurring Inclusive Growth in the Philippines

Government efficiencies and private sector reform are key for maximizing inclusive growth in the Philippines.

Vietnam map

Transforming Economic Governance in Vietnam

Local institutions in Vietnam must be equipped with the resources needed to maximize growth.

Introducing the Rule of Law in Myanmar

Building a transparent and inclusive justice sector is a critical step to improving legal rights for Myanmar’s people in the wake of recent political transition.

Promoting Tourism in Timor-Leste

As Timor-Leste invests in an inclusive and sustainable national tourism strategy, the country is emerging as an “off-the-beaten-path” destination for adventure travelers and eco-tourists.

View All Projects

Building a One-Stop Pension Shop in Armenia

To support an effective and trustworthy e-pension system, the Armenian government has trained civil servants and created an outreach plan to educate the public.

View All Impact Stories

3 Questions with Dany Khy on Chemonics’ New Center for Private Sector Engagement

As Chemonics launches its Center for Private Sector Engagement, its director Dany Khy shares our goals, approaches, and challenges for partnerships during the pandemic and beyond.

Building Back Better Through Trade

Balancing ethical concerns with a demand-led approach to trading relationships can transform fragile value chains into resilient market systems that pay out for emerging and developed economies as well as suppliers and buyers.

News: USAID Awards “Digis” to Two Projects Implemented by Chemonics

USAID awards recognize the Human Resources for Health in 2030 program and the Pakistan Small and Medium Enterprise Activity for using technology to “sustain open, secure, and inclusive digital ecosystems and improve measurable development and humanitarian-assistance outcomes on a large scale.”

A man approaches a store owner and his acquaintance at a small store in Afghanistan

Lasting Peace in Afghanistan Powered by Broad-based Economic Growth

Read on to learn what Catherine Kannam and David Vose contend are the three foundational pillars that will support lasting peace in Afghanistan.

Attendees of the 2019 UNLEASH Global Innovation Lab cheer during a general session.

3 Lessons for Empowering Youth to Drive Sustainable Change Through Innovation

Youth empowerment through social innovation and entrepreneurship has incredible potential to solve problems at a grassroots level if youth are given robust platforms to connect and act.

Hands holding a printout of a line graph

Three Questions on Financing Self-Reliance with Mario Kerby

How can development practitioners foster local commitment for financing self-reliance? Chief of Party Mario Kerby shares how his project has engaged a diverse array of stakeholders — from finance ministers to schoolchildren — to ensure commitment to crucial fiscal reforms remains strong.

Building a Financial Services Market Where There Wasn’t One

How did one USAID initiative get banks on board to provide $1 billion in services in rural Colombia? How can we do that elsewhere? It takes a systemic, business-driven approach to connect supply with demand at scale.

News: Building Resilience Through Market Systems: Chemonics Presents at SEEP 2019

From October 21 to 23, Chemonics experts are participating in the SEEP Network Annual Conference, leading peer learning sessions on financial inclusion and resilience.

To Respond to the Venezuelan Migration Crisis, Let’s Also Tap the Private Sector

As Venezuelan migrants navigate challenges in host countries, the private sector must play an active role in maximizing their economic opportunities.

Development Works Here with Razan Quossous

Development works here because great people work here. We’re excited to introduce you to our team.

The Journey to Better Development: Financial Sector Tools Worth Revisiting

Revisiting financial sector tools and resources can make our development dollars go further.

Sequencing for Success in Blended Finance Solutions

How can implementers use blended finance to mobilize capital? Chemonics and LixCap share their experiences with sequencing and explore its potential.

women riding on motorbike

Combatting Human Trafficking During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased opportunities for human traffickers to exploit people with limited financial means. Based on her work in Myanmar, Heather Goldsmith suggests how development partners can adapt their approaches to educational outreach on combatting trafficking to vulnerable communities.

News: Chemonics Does Digital Health

Chemonics convenes its digital health experts for the virtual Global Digital Health Forum from December 7 to 9, 2020.

For the Women of Afghanistan, Peace with the Taliban May Not End the War

How can the inclusion of Afghan women's voices in the Afghanistan peace talks further champion gender equality in the country? Dr. Susanne E. Jalbert provides substantial thoughts about it and what the international community can do as a response.

Talk of Peace Sparks Hope and Fear in Afghanistan

As peace talks in Afghanistan begin, Safir Sahar reflects on why it's so important that women's rights are central to the negotiations.

View All News and Blog

Sign up for our eNewsletter to learn more about our work.

Sign Up
  • What We Do
  • Where We Work
  • Who We Are
  • Work With Us
  • News and Blog
  • Technical Areas
    • Agriculture and Food Security
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Democracy and Governance
    • Economic Growth and Trade
    • Education and Youth
    • Environment and Natural Resources
    • Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
    • Health
    • Peace, Stability, and Transition
    • Supply Chain Management
    • Water, Energy, and Sustainable Cities
  • Regions
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe and Eurasia
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • Middle East and North Africa
  • Staff Resources
  • Employment
    • Life at Chemonics
    • Internships
  • Partner
    • Search for a Job
    • Our Procurements
    • How to Become a Partner
    • Small Business Partners Form
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Instagram
  • Standards of Conduct
  • Data Privacy Policies