Butuan City-  Eighteen (18) day care centers and ninety-four (94) classrooms were implemented in Caraga through the funding assistance of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), formerly Australian Aid for International Development (AusAID), under the facilitation of the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan- Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), a poverty-alleviation project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

These major educational facilities were implemented by the community volunteers of the non-prioritized barangays of the Kalahi-CIDSS Makamasang Tugon (KC-MT) project and those identified through the results of the Supply Side Assessment (SSA) of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

These sub-projects which amount to Php 82, 563, 169.88 from the AusAID grant worth Php 69, 898, 732.63 and the local counterpart contributions (LCCs) of the barangay and municipal local government units (B/MLGUs) worth Php 12, 664, 437.25.

This grant benefited fourteen (14) municipalities in the region namely Cagdianao, Cagwait, Gigaquit, Jabonga, Kitcharao, Libjo, Lingig, Loreto (AdS), Marihatag, Pilar, Socorro, Veruela, San Miguel, and Sibagat.

According to DSWD Regional Director Minda B. Brigoli, the implementation of the sub-projects was divided into two (2) batches. ”The first batch was completed in May 2013, while the second was completed in December 2013,” RD Brigoli said.

“We are very proud and grateful to our workers as well as to the community volunteers that all the sub-projects were accomplished months ahead of the projected/targeted completion date without jeopardizing the quality of the infrastructures,” she added.

In August 2014, the Project will step-up with the additional AUD 12 M, or P-476 M grant from the Australian government. ###(Eunice G. Montaos/Social Marketing Unit/DSWD Field Office Caraga)