On 05 December 2019, CFSI officially opened its Field Office in Kidapawan (FOK) located in Sitio Santol, Lanao, Kidapawan City to support the government in its efforts to respond to the needs of people affected by the three major earthquakes happened in October 2019. Operational since 22 November 2019, CFSI FOK serves as the base of operations for CFSI’s activities in North Cotabato, including the implementation of Child Protection Emergency Response Project (CPERP). It currently houses 33 full-time Staff Members who work with 260 community-based youth volunteers.
The CPERP is a 4-month emergency response project being implemented by CFSI in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and in close coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Education (DepEd). It seeks to supports 6,000 families, with 12,000 parents and 18,000 children, in the earthquake affected population in communities, evacuation sites, and schools across Municipalities of Makilala, Tulunan, M’lang, Magpet and City of Kidapawan in the Province of Cotabato.
CPERP activities include: conduct of Psychosocial support (PSS) sessions and Psychological First Aid (PFA) to children; establishment of Child Friendly Spaces (CFS); Training of Trainers (ToT) on PFA and Child Protection in Emergencies (CPiE) for teachers; training of youth animators as CFS Volunteers; training on PFA and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) for parents and caregivers; support to creation of youth clubs; case management and referral of vulnerable children and their families, and; support to the referral and coordination mechanism of Child Protection Working Group (CPWG).
The Humanitarian Needs and Priorities for the Tulunan, North Cotabato Earthquakes assessment report published on November 2019 by the Philippines Humanitarian Country Team showed that 262,000 individuals were critically affected and need humanitarian assistance. At least 38,000 houses were destroyed or damaged and several thousands have been displaced and are living in severely-affected areas.