THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has reported a 99.5-percent success rate in the sustainability of subprojects implemented nationwide through its Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan–Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) program.
Among the top contributors to the near-perfect rating are 7,281 road projects, 4,790 day care centers, 2,624 flood control projects, 3,521 foot and access pathways, and 226 school buildings.
KALAHI-CIDSS director and national program manager Bernadette Mapue-Joaquin made this disclosures in a statement issued on Monday.
The program’s success rate started in 2022 under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the leadership of DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian. The KALAHI-CIDSS continues to monitor these subprojects to ensure long-term impact and effectiveness, the DSWD said.
Mapue-Joaquin said the high sustainability rating reflects the program’s effectiveness in allowing communities to identify, propose, and implement projects that meet their own needs.
“When we assessed their sustainability, 99.5 percent was determined to be a good and excellent rating. Those that are reduced to less than 1 percent are poor and fair but not necessarily non-operational,” she said.
She also said DSWD personnel regularly visit communities to conduct dialogues and assess the challenges that the barangay residents face.
“We have what is called a community empowerment activity cycle. We have staff at the barangay level [and] we call them community empowerment facilitators and they are a team. So, they do facilitate, the barangay assemblies. In the barangay assemblies we have participatory situation analysis, this is what is analyzed what is the situation [and] problem in the community. They lined it up. So they will see [those] problems and how to solve them and what project,”
Mapue-Joaquin explained.
She noted that communities often propose several projects, but due to limited resources, the priorities of KALAHI-CIDSS are essentially based on impact and necessity.
The program also follows a “negative list” to prevent misuse of funds and ensure that all projects benefit the entire community.
Based on KALAHI-CIDSS data, the 10 municipalities that experienced the largest decrease in poverty incidence from 2009 to 2021 are Bucloc (Abra), Kibungan (Benguet), Lacub (Abra), Kabayan (Benguet), Tinoc (Ifugao), Boliney (Abra), Sallapadan (Abra), Sarangani (Davao Occidental), Tagaloan II (Lanao del Sur), and Asipulo (Ifugao).
All of these areas, except for Tagaloan II in Lanao del Sur, are beneficiaries of the KALAHI-CIDSS program. Additionally, eight of these municipalities have “graduated” from the program after successfully reducing their poverty incidence to below 18.1 percent.
To strengthen its program in response to the increasing effects of climate change, the DSWD recently launched the Panahon ng Pagkilos: Philippine Community Resilience Project (PCRP) at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu City last Nov. 19.
This new initiative aims to promote climate-resilient, community-driven development in 500 municipalities across 49 provinces. It will specifically focus on areas with high poverty rates, environmental risks, and the presence of indigenous peoples.
More than 300 municipalities meet the criteria for support but are currently unserved due to limited resources.
Mapue-Joaquin urged lawmakers to support the proposed Community-Driven Development (CDD) bill, which aims to institutionalize the CDD approach in government programs.
For more than 20 years, the KALAHI-CIDSS program has completed 92,501 subprojects, benefiting more than 24 million individuals nationwide. The program continues to promote the CDD approach to tackle local challenges and uplift communities from poverty.
