A community driven development program aimed at empowering communities to identify and implement projects that helps reduce poverty and improve livelihoods whose result has been proven, tested and lauded by World Bank as one of the top 5 anti-poverty programs implemented-the Kapit-bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services or better known as KALAHI-CIDSS has finally arrived in the province of Negros Oriental.
Eleven municipalities with a poverty incidence of at least 33 percent from NegOr’s three district has been identified, namely Ayungon, Bindoy, Jimalalud, Mabinay, Manjuyod, Vallehermoso, Basay, Pamplona, Dauin, Sta. Catalina, Zamboanguita.
The program is designed to empower the people to identify the needs of their communities, participate in its implementation and develop strategies to sustain the gains and lessons learned in participatory development and good local governance.
DSWD’s Regional Director, Ma. Evelyn B. Macapobre is proud to announce that “In Central Visayas alone, KALAHI-CIDSS has covered 349 barangays in 14 municipalities in the provinces of Bohol and Siquijor.” She was quick to add that “it has served approximately 80,000 households through 454 subprojects amounting to about P350 million” in its first implementation in Bohol and Siquijor.
The successful outcome of the first two provinces holds a bright example for the 11 municipalities identified in NegOr and a promising change for these communities.
The program design is collaboration between the community and the local government, therefore a counter-parting scheme needs to be established and understood for the implementation to commence.
This is the very reason why an LGU Enrollment Forum was conducted with the different stakeholders with the mayors in lead participation. It also provided a venue for each of these areas to complete the enrollment requirement and compliance to local counterpart contribution.
With the department’s thrust to Communicate, Collaborate and Coordinate, Director Macapobre encourage the participants to communicate and be very candid and open in their opinions, suggestions and difficulties so that issues can immediately be addressed and resolved the earliest time.
Infrastructure facilities that have been commonly considered were farm-to-market roads, school buildings, potable waterworks systems, electrification, and day care centers are just concrete results of all the community efforts, hard work and transparency.
What really counts is the developed change in the community, the empowerment and knowledge gained.
