MCC positive of anti-poverty project sustainability

TACLOBAN CITY, May 27 (PNA) –- Top officials of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is optimistic of the sustainability of USD434 million US-funded projects in the country as they celebrate the end of five-year compact.

MCC Chief Executive Officer Dana Hyde said building the capacities of beneficiaries has raised their confidence that these projects will have lasting impacts in poor communities.

Hyde and MCC Board member and President of the International Republican Institute Mark Green was in Leyte on Thursday to check a footbridge project in Barugo town and talk with project recipients.

On Wednesday, the two officials met with President Benigno Aquino III and some cabinet members to highlight compact accomplishments.

“Sustainability is always in the forefront of our discussions. We are happy that there are legislations in placed and local government organize maintenance groups. What’s interesting here is organizing beneficiaries to maintain a project. That is very innovative,” Hyde said.

The first compact was signed in 2010 and has ended on May 25, 2016. The Millennium Challenge Account-Philippines (MCA-P) implemented the projects, focusing on three areas - improvement of tax revenue collection and administration, rehabilitation of secondary road network in Samar provinces, and funded about 4,000 small-scale community development projects in rural poor communities.

With the revenue reform, the MCC reported more than USD300 million in additional taxes have been generated since 2013, and these figures continue to grow.

Road rehabilitation covers 222 kilometers of coastal and mountainous roads and 61 bridges connecting Samar and Eastern Samar provinces. It reduced transportation costs, expanded commerce, and helped raise incomes of locals.

The compact’s community-driven development project, Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (Linking Arms Against Poverty) Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services – known as Kalahi-CIDSS – has funded thousands of projects in basic infrastructure and social services based on needs identified and prioritized by residents across Filipino communities.

"Kalahi-CIDSS here is an international model of Community-Driven Development (CDD) and its impact. I thank the Filipinos for being the teaching instrument for MCC. We are strong believers now in CDD," Hyde added. (PNA)
JMC/SARWELL Q. MENIANO