Butuan City- A laundry shop livelihood establishment and a day care center (DCC) were opened on June 6, 2014 in Brgy. Doongan, Butuan City, as it was turned-over to community recipients by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Caraga, in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) XIII.

The Php 999, 473-worth laundry business operations center for the NAgkahiusang PUbring MangayKAYay (NAPUBKAY) association is located near the barangay hall of Doongan, while the Php 778, 118-worth DCC is situated at Purok 10.

DSWD Caraga Regional Director Minda Brigoli bared during the turn-over ceremony that these sub-projects were made possible through the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan- Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services Community Driven Development (Kalahi-CIDSS CDD) Urban Pilot Project.

“The community residents in Brgy. Doongan, with the aid of the Area Coordinating Team (ACT) and barangay and city local government unit (B/CLGU), has sought for external support apart from the Php 1, 000, 000 grant in order to facilitate the two sub-projects.” Brigoli added.

DOLE-XIII Regional Director Johnson Cañete said during his message that the DOLE has extended an amount of Php 143, 700 which was used to purchase the 2 unit washing machines for the laundry business. “This was added with the contributions of the B/CLGU amounting to Php 251,000 and Php 88, 567 respectively. The community also extended In-Kind donation worth Php 34, 454.” said Cañete.

Butuan City Vice Mayor Angelo Calo also disclosed that for the DCC sub-project, CLGU contributed Php 123, 000, while BLGU gave Php 101, 000. “A total of Php 35, 870 was the In-Kind counterpart of the community,” he quipped.

World Bank Senior Social Development Specialist Ma. Loreto Padua, who graced the ceremony, also expressed her excitement of the completed sub-projects.

KC-NCDDP National Program Manager Benilda Redaja encouraged the volunteers as well as the residents to be united in sustaining the said projects since those were implemented to aid their needs of basic social services.

Christopher Johnson, NAPUBKAY president, emotionally expressed his thanks to DSWD, DOLE, and the B/CLGU. “Thank you so much for providing us a livelihood center. Not only did you provide an avenue for us to have a better income, but thank you also for allowing us to participate and experience implementing projects.” Johnson said.

“We have proven that productivity indeed lies in unity; this is our experience in completing this sub-project.” he added.

Other attendees during the inauguration were Makiko Watanabe of the World Bank, Juan Ceciro Aguilar of the KC-NCDDP NPMO, the Regional Project Management Office of Kalahi-CIDSS, headed by Assistant Regional Director Mita Lim, city/barangay local officials, community volunteers, and residents of Doongan.

The business operations of the laundry shop started after the inauguration while classes for the day care center started on June 9, 2014.

Brgy. Doongan is one of the two (2) recipient barangays, including Pagatapatan, for the KC-CDD Urban Pilot project in the region. In the barangay, there are 442 household beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

KC-CDD Urban purposes to empower people, improve local governance, and reduce poverty, by way of implementing projects with the use of the CDD strategy. ###(Eunice G. Montaos/Social Marketing Unit/DSWD Field Office Caraga)