Butuan City- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Caraga holds today at Almont Hotel and Inland Resort in this city the regional culmination of the Local Empowerment and Development Towards Good Governance (LEadGOV) project after it was launched last year in July 23.
Primarily participated by the representatives of the municipal local government units (LGUs) of Jabonga and Tagbina, the event is purposed to present the accomplishments of the project in achieving its goals which include the municipal sustainability plans, and transition strategies.
Regional Director Minda B. Brigoli congratulated the trainers as well as the participants for being able to attain the objectives of the LEaDGOV project.
“It is high time to celebrate what the project had accomplished in its endeavor in strengthening the capacities of our partners upon institutionalizing the community-driven development (CDD) process on each municipality along the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Process (GPBP) implementation,” said Brigoli during her welcome remarks.
Brigoli added that appropriate mechanisms were installed and series of capability building training were conducted to hasten the delivery of the project.
Testimonies from the community volunteers sector as well as the barangay level LGU were also presented during the culmination.
Honorable Jasmin F. Monton, municipal mayor of Jabonga, expressed her gratitude to DSWD for pouring efforts and resources to their locality with the agency’s endeavors of reducing poverty.
“Rest assured that we will continue the quest of having more empowered LGUs and maintain the kind of leadership which is directed towards positive change,” Mayor Monton strongly committed.
Also, Mayor Generoso Naraiso of Tagbina articulated his statement of support and gratitude to the Department.
“Many interventions, through the social protection programs, were done by the DSWD in Tagbina which continue to benefit its people, and so, the LGU is very much willing to support more projects coming from the agency,” voiced Mayor Naraiso.
An inspirational message was also delivered by Deputy Program Coordinator General Ignacio Cabria of the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional Para el Desarrollo (AECID).
Cabria extended his congratulations to all the participants who were involved in the capacity building training to LGUs. He also shared about the continued efforts of the Spanish government in helping the Philippines for improved governance and development planning.
“New strategic frameworks are being developed to further the promotion of international development,” Cabria disclosed.
The event was also graced by National Project Coordinator Orson Sta. Cruz, Assistant Regional Director for Operations Mita G. Lim, division chiefs and staff of DSWD Caraga, municipal coordinating teams (MCTs), punong barangays, and representatives from the community volunteers.
Other highlights of the LEadGOV project’s regional culminating activity were the recognition and awarding of plaques to the appointed pool of trainers in the two (2) municipalities and the expression of commitment through signing a tarpaulin which reelects their municipal sustainability plans.
The LEaDGOV project is one of the development interventions of the Spanish government in the country through the AECID. This is facilitated by the DSWD and is coursed through the KALAHI CIDSS- National Community-Driven Development Program (KC-NCDDP).
The main objective of the project is to improve the ability of the LGU and community participation in development planning at the LGU level. Purposely, this is to complement the capability building and implementation support component of the Bottom-Up-Budgeting (BUB), now called as the GPBP. This project is implemented in the six (6) municipalities in the country of which two (2) are in Caraga- Jabonga and Tagbina. ###(Social Marketing Unit/DSWD Field office Caraga)
