KALAHI-CIDSS implemented P330.1 M projects in Caraga Region

BUTUAN CITY, July 5 (PNA) -– The P330.1 million anti-poverty alleviation program of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo successfully implemented in Northeastern Mindanao (Caraga region).

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) -Field Office in Caraga region said that at least 60,478 households benefited through the government’s KALAHI-CIDSS program spread in five provinces and three cities in the region, particularly in far-flung areas.

The DSWD report said that the agency handed over the KALAHI-CIDSS Project implementation in Caraga Region to 272 barangays in 16 municipalities.

The KALAHI-CIDSS program in the Caraga region started in January 2003, the DSWD said.

The project's Phase 1 area, Jabonga Agusan del Norte, was launched in Las Nieves, Carmen, both of Agusan del Norte and La Paz, Agusan del Sur (Phase 2), all started in 2003.

The Phase 3 areas, started in September 2004 in Esperanza, San Luis, San Isidro and San Miguel municipalities while Phase 3B followed in Loreto, Agusan del Sur in the same year.

The Phase 4 areas the Libjo, San Benito, Pilar, Socorro towns, all of Surigao del Norte and Bayabas, Marihatag and Tagbina, all of Surigao del Sur. They are the last seven areas that implemented the project.

The DSWD also reported that the 16 municipalities were identified for its poverty situation and social welfare indications based on a study conducted by Dr. Arsenio Balisacan of the University of the Philippines (UP).

In all its engagement with the local government unit (LGU) and community members, the Regional Project Management Office has always been firm in its pronouncement that the community or the general assembly has the deciding power on matters affecting the project - from what sub-project to build, to selection of volunteers that will form part of the Barangay Sub-Project Management Committee (BSPMC) - the group that oversees the implementation of the project.

KALAHI-CIDSS followed the one-fund concept in which assistance from DSWD, municipal and barangay councils are directly deposited to community accounts. At the community level, the BSPMC managed the disbursements and other expenditures used during implementation. And because KALAHI-CIDSS advocates transparency, all transactions are accounted and reviewed by the general assembly during the conduct of fiduciary reviews.

It was also learned that the Area Coordinating Team (ACT) assigned in the areas followed conscientiously the steps in KC implementation. All these processes were targeted to its main goal of reducing poverty; improve local governance and most importantly, empowerment of the people in the rural areas. Trainings on community finance management, procurement, and operations and maintenance seminars were conducted to equip local townsfolk with the knowledge and skills that they could use in working towards community development. The project believes that through community empowerment, people would shift from dependency on government interventions and start their own plans to improve their quality of life.

For the past six years of KALAHI-CIDSS implementation in the region, 60,478 households benefited from the project. Community-Driven Development (CDD) processes were ensured in the implementation of these projects to partner provinces in the region. Results from Participatory Situation Analysis (PSA), community planning and resource allocations were highly emphasized and reflected in community's decision-making on sub-project implementation.

It was also ensured that there is gender balance in attendance during meetings and women be given spaces to express their ideas. Community processes were not only participatory but more importantly, transparent in all transactions and community undertakings, it was gathered.

It was also gathered that the implementations of KALAHI-CIDSS sub-projects required contributions or counterparting from other stakeholders like cash and in-kind counterparts from MLGU and BLGU that includes, but not limited to, use of heavy equipment, engineering supervision, lumber and gravel, and other related materials and resources for the full implementation of KC:KKB projects.

On the other hand, the community counterparted in pre-engineering works, labor and other forms. These were computed and given monetary value and included in the total community and LGU Counterpart Commitments (LCC).

Across four phases, a total of P330.1 million in grants and local counterparts were allocated to fund the community infrastructures and empowerment activities of the Project.

In KALAHI-CIDSS, "sub-projects" or the infrastructures constructed served as a learning tool, a vehicle, for communities to build local understanding of poverty conditions existing in the community.