The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office XI through the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS), Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PaMaNa), and Indigenous People Community-Driven Development (IP-CDD), turned-over four (4) infrastructure projects to indigenous people communities in Montevista, Davao de Oro.

Projects turned over are a classroom unit called School of Living Tradition (SLT) at Brgy. Bankerohan Sur, a barangay health station at Brgy. Camantangan, a tribal hall at Brgy. San Jose, and a concrete pathway at Brgy. Bankerohan Norte.

The total project cost of the infrastructure projects is 3.1 million, 1.1 million for the barangay health station, 700K for the tribal hall, and 600K each for the concrete pathway and SLT.

The turn over was led by DSWD XI officials headed by Promotive Services Division Chief Elizabeth Degorio, KALAHI Regional Program Coordinator Lani Cudino, and unit heads Elvira Anduyan and Aillyn Arrobio.

Also present at the turnover were KALAHI area and municipal coordinating teams, barangay and municipal officials, and IP representatives from the Dibabawon and Magguan tribes.

The KALAHI CIDSS-PAMANA IP-CDD aims to empower communities affected or vulnerable to conflict and engage them as active partners in development by involving them in culture- and gender-sensitive processes of identifying community needs, planning for and implementing appropriate sub-projects, and participating in monitoring project outputs and results.

Some of the sub-projects that may be supported by the KALAHI-CIDSS include access roads, improved water systems, medical supplies, tools, equipment, PPEs, and facilities for COVID-19 response, barangay health stations, and child development centers, among others.

The DSWD, in partnership with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), continues to commit to delivering basic services to the IP communities by supporting the implementation of the Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plan (ADSDPP), as well as strengthening the partnership of local governance institutions and the Indigenous Political Structures (IPS) and building communities’ resilience to conflict. ###