BUTUAN CITY -The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Caraga will be implementing its anti-poverty program KALAHI-CIDSS’ project expansion by means of additional loan financing from the World Bank to eight new municipalities in the region. This was learned during the Infrormation Dissemination and Municipality Selection Process held in Gateway Hotel, Surigao City on June 24.

The municipalities of Remedios T. Romualdez (RTR) and Kitcharao in Agusan del Norte; Mainit, Tubod, Alegria, Del Carmen, Sta. Monica, and Burgos in Surigao del Norte were selected out of 26 eligible municipalities through a selection process and will receive funding for next year as part of the scale-up implementation of KALAHI-CIDSS.

The target municipalities were chosen based on four criteria: poverty incidence, total number of barangays, total number of population, and total land area.

Through the Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), an independent international research organization, the data were fed on a computer and a program gave the pairing. The pairing of eligible municipalities prior to selection gave them equal chance of being selected.

Meanwhile, KC champion mayor of Jabonga, Glicerio Monton, Jr. shared his experiences and success story in his town’s implementation of KC for five consecutive years with the mayors and representatives of the 26 municipalities present during the activity.

The activity was conducted by the Associated Resources for Management and Development, Inc. (ARMDEV), a third party organization contracted by the Millennium Challenge Corporation for DSWD. ### (Social Marketing Unit)