Butuan City- All the five (5) provinces in Caraga have municipalities identified as recipients of the KALAHI CIDSS- National Community Driven Development Program (KC-NCDDP), an anti-poverty program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
They are:
- Agusan del Norte – Buenavista, Jabonga, Kitcharao, Las Nieves, Remedios T. Romualdez, and Santiago;
- Agusan del Sur – San Francisco, Santa Josefa, and Veruela;
- Surigao del Norte – Alegria, Bacuag, Burgos, Claver, Dapa, Del Carmen, General Luna, Gigaquit, Mainit, Malimono, Pilar, Placer, San Benito, San Francisco, San Isidro, Santa Monica, Sison, Socorro, Tagana-An, and Tubod;
- Surigao del Sur – Barobo, Cagwait, Carmen, Carrascal, Cortes, Hinatuan, Lanuza, Lianga, Lingig and Marihatag; and
- Province of Dinagat islands – Basilisa, Cagdianao, Dinagat, Libjo, Loreto, San Jose, and Tubajon.
Caraga region, with an allotted community budget amounting to Php 711,110,550 for 2014, is set to launch and implement KC-NCDDP by the start of the second semester this year.
Regional Program Manager and Assistant Regional Director of DSWD Caraga Mita Gupana-Lim said that the Regional Program Management Office will convene with the governors, mayors and some municipal staff, in a forum for orientation and discussion about the nitty-gritty and the policies in implementing the KC-NCDDP.
The schedules and venues of the LGU fora will be on:
- May 23, 2014 in Butuan City;
- May 26, 2014 in General Luna, Surigao del Norte; and
- May 28, 2014 in Surigao City.
The KC-NCDDP is one of the three core poverty-alleviation programs of DSWD, alongside the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and the Sustainable Livelihood Program. Also, it is one of the programs of the national government for Yolanda post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation, covering 554 municipalities in the country, from which 41 are in Caraga, that were affected by the super typhoon.
It scales up the community driven development (CDD) strategy, which was used and proven effective by the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan- Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) in its past 11 years of implementation.
CDD puts power back in the hands of the people by giving them the opportunity to make informed decisions on locally identified options for development and manage resources to implement sub-projects that address needs identified by communities themselves.
While KC-NCDDP follows an open menu system which means that communities are given the opportunity to propose whatever type of project will best address their needs, barring those that are identified in the Negative list, the projects are expected to fall into the following categories: water systems, school buildings, health stations, day care centers, electrification, footbridges, pathways, access roads, facilities for community production and economic support, pre-and-post-harvest facilities and irrigation systems, flood control systems, sea walls, artificial reef sanctuaries, soil protection, skills training, and capability building. ###(EGM/Social Marketing Unit/DSWD Caraga)