Davao City  – Beginning this month, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) starts its implementation of Kalahi–CIDSS (Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services) in 11 municipalities, deploying some 80 field workers.

Director Priscilla N. Razon, DSWD, welcomed the latest batch of Kalahi-CIDSS staffs during the week-long orientation-training at Island Garden City of Samal.

This development is in line with the Kalahi-CIDSS goal of empowering communities down to the grassroots level.

The DSWD recently deployed in every town an Area Coordinating Team (ACT) composed of an Area Coordinator (AC), Technical Facilitator (TF), Finance Analyst (FA), and Community Empowerment Facilitator (CEF).

The team shall lead the implementation of the program in the municipality in coordination with the Municipal Coordinating Team, the ACT counterpart installed by the LGU in every Kalahi-CIDSS area.

Kalahi-CIDSS now operates in Baganga, Lupon, Kiblawan, Jose Abad Santos, Malalag, Sta. Maria, Don Marcelino, Sarangani, Montevista, Braulio E. Dujali, and San Isidro [Davao del Norte].

Kalahi-CIDSS, one of the three core programs of DSWD, is a community-driven development project of the Philippine Government that aims to empower communities through their enhanced participation in local governance and poverty alleviation projects.

According to Kalahi-CIDSS Deputy Regional Program Manager Ma. Annabelle S. Jabla, choosing applicants to lead the program is one of the most scrutinizing processes in the program.

“The people who should take up the task should have the heart to help other people. The work in Kalahi-CIDSS is not a typical job that we have inside the office. It’s a call for something deeper, they should have the passion to be a catalyst for change, carrying on the goal of the program and that is to empower the community in alleviating poverty.”

Approved by President Benigno C. Aquino on 18 January 2013, Kalahi-CIDSS has expanded into a national scale of operations and opened in 16 municipalities in Region XI in 2014, in its pilot implementation.

Jabla added, the new workers have been capacitated using the Community Driven Development (CDD) approach. ACTs are expected to empower ordinary citizens to directly participate in local governance by identifying their own community needs and collectively responding to it.

The 11 municipalities will receive a cash grant of Php 173, 980,750.oo that would benefit 197 barangays. (DSWD)