The Department of Social Welfare and Development Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (DSWD Kalahi-CIDSS) trains Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Groups in 39 Local Government Units (LGUs) in the Bicol Region.

The training aims to enhance the capacity of O&M groups in performing their roles in the operations of the community projects built through the DSWD Kalahi-CIDSS in a sustained manner and effectively provide services to the community.

As of November 28, 2018, the program has completed a total of 2,672 community projects in Bicol Region. The operations and maintenance are both handled by O&M groups either organized into associations or committees of the LGUs.

“This capability-building activity will not only enrich the knowledge and skills of the O & M groups in the planning development but also enhance the capacity of these committees in mobilizing and managing their resources for their community projects,” Director Arnel Garcia said.

The municipalities that will undergo training are the following:

The municipalities were identified based on the Sustainability Evaluation Test (SET) results, the capacity of O&M groups and income generating projects.

The training with a total budget of Php 13,422,065.00 will tackle seven (7) sessions such as Diagnosing Functionality of O&M group, Revisiting Committee Purpose and Work Plan, Membership Development, Technical Aspect for O&M, Resource Mobilization and Management, Monitoring and O&M Planning.

On the other hand, DSWD Kalahi-CIDSS added eight (8) more municipalities for the Strengthening Community Participation in Local Development Training also known as Makilahok.

“We included eight (8) LGUs in addition to the 15 LGUs to gain more support on the institutionalization of Community-Driven Development (CDD) at the barangay development planning and budgeting process,” Dir. Garcia explained.

The additional municipalities were LGU Sta. Elena in Camarines Norte, LGUs Bato, Baao, Bula, Calabanga in Camarines Sur, LGUs Barcelona, Sta. Magadalena and Prieto Diaz in Sorsogon.

The original LGUs were Manito and Jovellar in Albay, Jose Panganiban and San Vicente in Camarines Norte, Cabusao, Minalabac, Gainza, Canaman and Ocampo in Camarines Sur, Baras and Gigmoto of Catanduanes, Mobo and Palanas in Masbate and Irosin and Gubat in Sorsogon.

Makilahok started from October 2018 while the O&M Training will be conducted on the first week of December. Both training initiatives will end on December 15, 2018.

/ramsertan/