Butuan City – With nine (9) new municipalities in Caraga who will be implementing the government’s poverty alleviation project KALAHI-CIDSS for 2012, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) recently conducted a forum on the project’s modality for local government units, this city Dec. 13-15.

The LGU forum provided the participants with the operational framework, implementation process, and key requirements for enrolment to the project.

The municipalities of Remedios T. Romualdez (RTR) and Kitcharao in Agusan del Norte; Lingig in Surigao del Sur; Alegria, Mainit, Tubod, Del Carmen, Sta. Monica, and Burgos in Surigao del Norte will be part of the new KALAHI-CIDSS area in the region.

“The forum successfully addressed issues from the target partner LGUs who may have qualms in the enrolment conditions of the project,” said Assistant Regional Director and Regional Project Manager Mita G. Lim.

The inclusion of nine new municipalities to KALAHI-CIDSS means a great deal to the Regional Project Management Office of DSWD as it will introduce these areas to the community-driven development (CDD) technology which has proven its record of delivering faster and better services to the community since 2003.

“We hope that by experiencing the CDD, LGUs will be guided to make more informed decisions and become more responsive to their constituents by helping them build capacities and abilities to be self-reliant in identifying solutions to their own needs and problems,” added Lim.

KALAHI-CIDSS stands for Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services. It is the government’s flagship anti-poverty project funded by World Bank which aims at eradicating poverty through improving local governance and empowering the grassroots. ### Social Marketing Unit