BANGUED, Abra – The Department of Social Welfare and Development-Cordillera is pushing for stronger implementation of the Kapit-bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) through an all-of-society approach.
The DSWD-Cordillera hosted the regional Kalahi-CIDSS Regional Partnership Forum attended by representatives from regional line agencies, academic institutions, civil society organizations, and media outfits.
The forum included orientation on the Kalahi-CIDSS Program and its accomplishments, the Balik-Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa (BP2) component of the program, testimonies from program beneficiaries, and a visit to completed projects and community beneficiaries.
DSWD-Cordillera Assistant Director for Operations Amelyn Cabrera said the activity aims to forge partnerships for the implementation of Kalahi-CIDSS, a program that works on the principle of transparency, accountability, empowerment, and participation.
“We need your help. This is a program for our beneficiaries in the provinces. This is not just a program of DSWD but a partnership program. Hopefully, we will have some sort of partnership with you. It could be as “gabay”, “tulay”, “kaagapay”, or “bantay”, which are the four major partnerships that you can enter into with DSWD,” Cabrera said.
The Gabay is partnership on mechanisms for extending technical assistance; the Tulay is for facilitating action, feedback, and monitoring; Kaagapay is partnership for anti-poverty projects and activities while Bantay is for projects and activities on anti-corruption.
The Kalahi-CIDSS is a community-driven development (CDD) poverty alleviation program that started in 1989 with budget support from DSWD’s Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (CIDSS) and became a stand-alone program in 2002.
The program with its various funding sources already has around P1.49 billion of investment to 1,959 CDD sub pro-projects in 781 barangays in 63 municipalities and six provinces of the Cordillera.
In 2020, the Kalahi-CIDSS implementation shifted to the Disaster Response Operations Modality (DROM) geared toward addressing the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic and other disasters.
Under the DROM, focus is on Kapangyarihan at Kaunlaran sa Barangay-Cash-for-Work Program, which is set to be implemented in the 27 municipalities of Abra that were affected by the July 27 magnitude 7.0 earthquake.
The DSWD-Cordillera and its Kalahi-CIDSS implementation partners will ink a memorandum of agreement for the formalization and institutionalization of the partnership on poverty alleviation and CDD. – Carlito Dar
