The Department of Social Welfare & Development in the Central Visayas will be gathering the Municipal Information Officers in Negros Oriental for its Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan — Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) Project on April 3-4 in Dumaguete City.
Said planning workshop is aimed at promoting each locality’s communication strategies in their social development interventions, and in the process, help promote the Community-Driven Development approach as an effective strategy in poverty reduction.
Regional Director Mercedita Jabagat shared the importance on tapping the Municipal Information Officers in promoting the social welfare programs of different government agencies. “It is one of their roles of info officers to inform their constituents on how the national agencies respond to the needs of our stakeholders”, she said.
Kalahi-CIDSS uses CDD which harnesses the potential of people in the barangay to analyse their own situations, identify problems and issues in their communities and propose small-scale projects. It is one of the flagship poverty reduction programs of the Philippine Government implemented by the DSWD and has been internationally recognised by its impact in empowering communities.
“The Kalahi-CIDSS Project is known not just in the Asian-pacific region but also the whole world as an effective way of addressing community needs”, said Yukiko Ito, Asian Development Bank specialist during her recent visit in the region.
Due to its ten-year track record of success, the CDD strategy of Kalahi-CIDSS has been recently approved by the National Economic Development Authority Board Investment Coordination Committee.
Dubbed as the National Community Driven Development Program, its coverage will increase from 367 to 900 municipalities in 16 regions across the country this year.
In the Central Visayas, Kalahi-CIDSS is currently covering 25 municipalities in the provinces of Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.
With the approval of NCDDP, the number of beneficiary municipalities in Region VII has increased with an additional number of 55 more municipalities scattered across the island provinces, including the Province of Cebu. (PR)