BUTUAN CITY – “We have to do a lot of work for this year’s program implementation and ensure that all of our targets are met. Above all, we want to serve more communities who are in need of our service.”

Kalahi-CIDSS Deputy Regional Program Manager Ester V. Villamor emphasized the need to work harder for the 2020 program implementation among regional and field staff during the 2019 Program Implementation of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Kapit – Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), on January 14 to 15, 2020 at Almont Inland Resort, Butuan City.

For the year 2020, a total of eight municipalities were selected for the extension of the National Community-Driven Development Program, namely: Malimono, Anaoaon, Placer, Barobo, Basilisa, San Jose, Taganaan, and Madrid.

These municipalities were identified based on the criteria set by the National Program Management Office of the Kalahi-CIDSS.

The whole year is expected to be packed with activities starting off with the enrolment period of the selected local government units (LGU) this month. Currently, an LGU forum is being conducted by the regional management of Kalahi-CIDSS Caraga in the municipalities of Anaoaon, Malimono, and Placer to re-orient the municipalities about the program’s overview and key design features, institutional agreement, management structure, financial arrangement and local counterpart contribution, implementation process, and enrolment precedents.

Last year, the rest of the target municipalities have also participated in the same forum.

Further, all Barangay Sub-Project Management Committee (BSPMC) accounts are expected to close by December 2020.

As the program recalibrates its goals for 2020, Villamor also encouraged the field staff to double their efforts in advocating Community-Driven Development (CDD).

“By now, we should be leaning more to the institutionalization of CDD. We should convince more people from the local government units why there is a need to support this,” Villamor said.

This was also seconded by Regional Community Development Specialist Elsa D. Montemor. During her CDD wrap-up report, she presented the good practices being done to promote and practice CDD in the program. She also discussed the points given by the different units or disciplines that should be improved in implementing CDD.

Montemor stressed that all field staff should aim to have at least one LGU official who can serve as strong advocates of CDD. By doing so, there will be more supporters to the program and this can possibly expedite the process of its institutionalization.

“This year we need to double our efforts toward the institutionalization of CDD. We would like to challenge everyone on the field to identify at least one CDD champion in your respective areas of assignment,” Montemor concluded.

Field Office Caraga is among the top performers in the implementation of the program. The Field Office, through the leadership of Regional Director Mita Chuchi Gupana-Lim, would like to continue the excellent performance, since it is the communities who would gain most in the program’s success.