At the Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum, members of Kalahi CIDSS Project Preparation Team in Governor Generoso, Davao Oriental cast their votes to select community projects to be funded.

Davao City – Four targeted Kalahi-CIDSS municipalities recently conducted a Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum (MIBF) for Participatory Resource Allocation (PRA).

The areas are Kapalong, Davao Del Norte; Governor Generoso, Davao Oriental; and Pantukan and Compostela in Compostela Valley.

The event is part of the community empowerment activity cycle (CEAC) of Kalahi-CIDSS where community volunteers present and defend their proposed sub-projects before representatives and Kalahi CIDSS volunteers of other barangays.

The MIBFs were attended by MLGU and BLGU Officials, Kalahi CIDSS Volunteers, Kalahi CIDSS Regional Finance Analyst Loudice Joyce L. Anas, Kalahi CIDSS Community Development Assistant Glenn Paul Ylan and Kalahi CIDSS Deputy Regional Program Manager Ma. Annabelle S. Jabla.

Involved in the MIBF are the three elected members of the Project Preparation Team (PPT) and the three members of Barangay Representation Team (BRT) which were chosen by the respective community.

“BRTs will attend a workshop where they decide the rules and sub-project ranking criteria for the MIBF while PPTs will prepare the proposal for their identified community sup-project,” explained Varnell M. Dagansan, Kalahi CIDSS Area Coordinator of San Isidro, Davao Oriental.

Prior to the MIBF, activities done in the community include municipal orientation, barangay assemblies, participatory situation analysis, criteria setting workshop, project development workshops, and capability building for community volunteers.

For the better

Quillano M. Sabello, 62, a father of four and elected as barangay sup-project committee chairman of Kingking, Patukan, shared how the social preparation activities and Kalahi-CIDSS trainings boosted his morale.

“I was very shy and was afraid to socialize with people other than our neighbors. With my experience in workshops, regular meetings, until the identification of our sub-projects, I became more confident.”

“Development is a dream that should be awakened in everyone’s heart. The community should look after it, embrace it, and share it. From then, empowerment will be multiplied and poverty will be alleviated, one initiative at a time,” Jabla pointed out.

Kalahi-CIDSS is one of DSWD’s anti-poverty programs. It recently scaled up into a national community-driven development program targeting to intensify meaningful participation of people in their own development by letting them decide for their community as well as linking them to basic services. DSWD