Anti-poverty program pours in PHP3.2-B funds for community projects in Region 8

TACLOBAN CITY, July 20 (PNA) –- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the region reports a total of 4,470 projects completed under its flagship anti-poverty program Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS).

In a press conference Tuesday, DSWD shared a recent regional update on the Kalahi-CIDSS program in the region which has already disbursed a total of PHP3.2 billion in under a PHP3.7 billion total fund allocation for the region.

As of June 2016, the DSWD has already provided the program the financial requirements of PHP1.5 billion for Leyte; PHP785 million for Samar; PHP658 million for Northern Samar; PHP402 million for Eastern Samar; PHP218 million for Southern Leyte; and, PHP122 million for Biliran.

These funds went into the construction of 1,018 school buildings and day care centers, 265 health stations, 73.65 kilometers of drainage canals, 2,668.8 linear meters of seawalls, 749 water systems, 1,284 electric lamp posts and 1,245.76 kilometers of roads, access trails and bridges all over the region.

Capability trainings were also conducted for recipient villages.

There remain 827 on-going projects while 183 are in the procurement stage.

DSWD Eastern Visays Regional Director Restituto Macuto said the agency will continue to involve communities in the region in their own development through the Community-Driven Development (CDD) strategy.

The CDD is an approach that engages citizens in local development so that they will determine and implement what interventions that will help their communities respond to issues affecting their poverty situation.

Community projects under the program are being completed through the various modalities which include Kalahi-CIDSS additional financing, which expanded the first phase of Kalahi-CIDSS; 

Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Project, Australian Grant project from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

Other modalities are Japan Social Development Fund-Livelihood for Vulnerable Urban Communities (JSDF-LVUC) Project, Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), kalahi-CIDSS-Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan, and the Kalahi-CIDSS Bottom-up Planning and Budgeting.

In the region, Kalahi-CIDSS is all over in its six provinces with 3,785 villages in 138 towns.  The DSWD listed a total of 738,548 households in the region. (PNA)

LAP/SQM/Ahlette C. Reyes/egr