Butuan City – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Caraga remains on-track as it continues to recognize the importance of the convergence efforts with government line agencies in its implementation of the anti-poverty project Kalahi-CIDSS (Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services). This was learned during the Regional Inter-Agency Committee (RIAC) orientation on the project.

According to regional director Mercedita P. Jabagat, the revitalization of a convergence strategy among national government agencies (NGAs) is in line with the project’s objectives and its scale-up initiatives.

“As we gear towards a more comprehensive implementation of the project, intensifying our efforts in the regional level for a more collaborative mechanism should be done to address the needs of our communities,” she explained in her welcome message.

 

This was supported by Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Caraga assistant regional director for operations Alejandro S. Otacan who said that the activity is very timely as majority of the special projects administered by NGAs throughout the country are community-driven development (CDD) projects.

 

“Our government is favoring CDD programs and this is also becoming a trend for international development programs since the CDD technology ensures transparency and accountability,” he said.

He added that the CDD project of DAR, which is also partly funded by World Bank, implements the same process as Kalahi-CIDSS. Both programs have one common goal: to improve the quality of lives of the vulnerable and the disadvantaged.

The objective of community empowerment and the principle of participatory approach in the implementation are also observed by another community-based project of the Department of Health (DOH).

Center for Health Development (CHD) Caraga focal person Daylinda F. Alvizo maintained that a convergence strategy should be in place to continue enhancing and updating the implementation mechanism of all CDD projects.

The DSWD along with other line agencies will be conducting a series of consultation-dialogues in the coming months.

“This is a start of a more meaningful and fruitful partnership that will bring about the development we dream of for our communities,” Otacan declared. ### (Social Marketing Unit)