Poverty remains the most crucial social problem that needs to be dealt with in the Philippines. What is precisely the nature of this dilemma? Being the 12^th  most populated country in the world, the major cause of this is the rapid population growth which resulted to high unemployment rate.

Over the years, poverty rate stays constant because of its limitation to create jobs while increasingly its demand.

Addressing widespread poverty is the country’s great challenge especially its reduction. Augmenting this scenario, the Department of Social Welfare and Development came up with poverty alleviation programs known as DSWD’s Convergence Network also referred as Tatsulo.

In the line is Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan- Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) wherein it empowers communities, strengthen local governance and speed up development in the barangays. Next is Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program also known as 4P’s is a human development program that invests in the health and education of poor households, particularly of children aged 0-14 years old. It uses conditional giving of cash grants based on compliance to certain conditionality’s whereas Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) is a multi-stakeholder program that aims to improve the socio-economic status of its participants. It does this through a community-based capacity building program that enjoins the community participants from the planning until the implementation and monitoring phases.

A targeting system was formulated to set up a unified criterion in the selection of the poorest population. This gave birth to DSWD’s National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR). It is an information management system that identifies who and where the poor are.

The system makes database of poor households as reference in identifying potential beneficiaries of social protection programs. It aims to establish an objective targeting system and reduce the leakage of social services to non-poor and minimize exclusion of the poor.

HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS?

NHTS-PR looks into the poverty incidence of provinces/municipalities/cities for the purpose of prioritizing the areas to assess. This also determined the method of assessment to implement. There are two methods being used, Saturation or complete enumeration for municipalities with 50% and above poverty incidence and Pockets of poverty which applies to municipalities/cities with 49% below poverty incidence. It is a segment or portion of the community where clusters of poor usually reside.

After identifying which process best fit in the area, household assessment is the next step wherein it is conducted by enumerators using the household assessment form (HAF), a two page questionnaire with 34 variables.

All the information gathered in HAF is then encoded to a web application and subjected to Proxy Means Test. Proxy Means Test (PMT) is a statistical model that estimates the income of households using the proxy variables indicated in HAF. These include family composition, education of household members, housing conditions and access to basic services.

NHTS –PR also implements On-Demand Application (ODA)– a process of ensuring complete coverage of poor households and Validation-a process that assesses accuracy of the list of poor and non-poor households with the community to ensure that all qualified will be included in the database. Local Government Units (LGU’) performs key role during these processes.

UTILIZATION OF DATABASE

The assessments were completed last December 2009. The NHTS-PR was able to assess and subject to Proxy Means Test (PMT) 10,909,456 households in the 17 regions, 80 provinces, and 137 cities and 1,493 municipalities nationwide. Of these, 5,255,118 were identified as poor.

In Bicol region, a total of 775,014 households were assessed and subjected to PMT in the six (6) provinces, seven (7) cities and 107 municipalities regionwide. Of these, 461,242 were identified as poor.

Data from NHTS-PR Field Office V is currently being used by DSWD for its Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program(4P’s) and other stakeholders  such as Philhealth RO V, Department of Health (DOH)RO V, Intervida Philippines, Department of Agriculture, National Nutrition Council (NNC), Department of Agrarian Reform and  71 LGU’s in Region V.

Time is a thief for NHTS-PR, after commencing last 2009, the group will be updating its database in 2014.The team is advocating for full cooperation of the communities for the re-assessment to ensure all poor households will be included in the database.###crbarrameda

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The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office V hosted recently the National Year-End Program Review on National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction. This was held last November 12-17, 2012 at The Oriental Hotel, Legazpi City.

NHTS-PR is an information management system that identifies who and where the poor are. The system makes available to national government agencies and other stakeholders, a database of poor households as reference in identifying potential beneficiaries of social protection programs. It aims to establish an objective targeting system and reduce the leakage of social services to non-poor and minimize exclusion of the poor. Ms.Antoniette Maria R. Lucero, NHTS-PR National Deputy Project Manager said, “Our database is a gold mine so maximize its utilization and continue believing that Targeting is something good”.

The assembly aims to; assess the project’s accomplishments vis-a -vis its commitment/target and provide updates on the Project components and formulate a concrete communication strategy for year 2013.

DSWD Assistant Secretary Florita R. Villar, who graced the occasion, shared to the group the recognition given by FutureGov Awards held last October 19, 2012 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The FutureGov Awards serves as an international benchmark by which public sector innovation is judged. It uniquely celebrates agency and project success including the most successful city modernization programmes in the region.

NHTO landed finalists slots in three categories. It was the only finalist from the Philippines. The first category is under the Connected Government which recognizes the office’s excellence in intra-agency and inter-agency workflows. Second is in the Information Management category which recognizes the NHTO’s excellence in the secure capture, storage and distribution of citizen information. Last is the Government Organization of the year which recognizes excellence in public information at the central, state, local government level.

Likewise, Dir. Vincent Andrew T. Leyson,NHTS-PR National Project Manager, stressed the difference between the  Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) from National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), that the two systems have diverse purpose to the community. The focus is on advocating what NHTS-PR is.

The event was participated by NHTO Central Office technical staff headed by DSWD Assistant Secretary Florita R. Villar, Field Office Regional Directors and technical staff from 16 regions.##crbarrameda

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High school teacher from Cataingan, Masbate handed down P5,000 as her personal contribution to the upcoming construction of a concrete pathway in a far-flung barangay of the said town.

The Kalahi-CIDSS (Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services) Donors’ Forum held in Cataingan Astrodome last October 24 paved the way for Belma Vistones to share her haunting experience in barangay Abaca where she almost lost her twins when she was pregnant.

As a member of Department of Education (DepEd) Evaluation Team for their district, Belma needed to take the rough path in Abaca for more than an hour just to reach the next community to conduct their yearly assessment.

It was in 1989 when the incident happened. The slippery path caused Belma, who was pregnant with her twins, to slide. According to her, the road was steep and difficult to tread, especially during the wet season.

“Dahil din sa daan, nahihirapan talaga ang mga tao na magdala ng kanilang mga produkto sa palengke [People find it very difficult to transport their crops to the market because of the path],” she narrated.

The miserable situation in Abaca coupled with Belma’s unforgettable incident prompted her to give her own money for the construction of the proposed pathway in Abaca.

It was when Kalahi-CIDSS came to Cataingan this year that the opportunity came for Belma to become one of its community volunteers. She serves as one of the members of the Barangay Representation Team (BRT) in the poblacion barangay in Cataingan.

During their actual inter-barangay site visit, Belma and other BRT volunteers came to see all 36 barangays of Cataingan. The group recognized the difficulty experienced by the residents of Abaca and came to an accord that the community needed financial support from Kalahi-CIDSS to construct a concrete pathway.

BRT members represent the barangay in the Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum (MIBF) for criteria setting and for prioritization. In behalf of the community, they select the projects which sub-projects will be funded and implemented through Kalahi-CIDSS. The BRT is composed of the Barangay Captain and another two members who are not public elected officials of the barangay.

Through MIBF-Participatory Resource Allocation (PRA), community proposals are ranked by the BRT members according to priority. At this stage of Kalahi-CIDSS project, proposed community projects like concrete pathways, school buildings, health centers, water systems, and other interventions are finally approved for funding.

Kalahi-CIDSS is the flagship poverty-alleviation program of the Philippine government which adopts the community-driven development (CDD) approach as its overall strategy in targeting the poorest municipalities in the country. It is one of the three core poverty alleviation programs implemented by DSWD in partnership with local government units (LGUs).

CDD empowers the communities by allowing the people themselves to determine what their needs are and what strategies can be utilized to address these. They also design and implement their chosen sub-project themselves, as well as manage the resources to be used in implementing this.

From 2003 to 2012, Kalahi-CIDSS project covered 48 municipalities from all of the six provinces of Bicol region, with a total of 1,327 barangays receiving development interventions for small-scale community projects. At present, Kalahi-CIDSS projects in Albay, Masbate, and Sorsogon are funded by World Bank, while those in Catanduanes, Camarines Norte, and Camarines Sur are financed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation of the United States of America.

In Cataingan, the total grant fund from Kalahi-CIDSS is P16,200,000 with 30% counterpart from the barangay and municipal local government units (LGUs). Cataingan is one of the new twenty (20) municipalities qualifying under the expansion of Kalahi-CIDSS in 2012. ###jmarbella

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All six (6) provinces in Bicol region will inaugurate a total of 216 community sub-projects implemented through Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), one of the poverty-reduction programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Prioritized communities in the municipalities of Albay, Sorsogon, Masbate, Catanduanes, Camarines Norte, and Camarines Sur have utilized a total grant fund of P248 million to complete Kalahi-CIDSS community projects. By the end of 2012, all the community projects will be completed and inaugurated.

The Kalahi-CIDSS projects in Albay, Masbate and Sorsogon are funded by World Bank, while those in Catanduanes, Camarines Norte, and Camarines Sur are financed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation of the United States of America.

In Kalahi-CIDSS, funds for community projects are released directly to communities. Furthermore, it has an open menu system for small scale community projects. The communities, through the Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum, approve which projects will be funded.

While barangays are allowed to decide which projects to implement, these usually fall under the following sub-categories: general public goods or access projects, community enterprise projects, and human resource development projects. Projects under public goods or access projects are intended to deliver public services and/or address an issue of access to basic services. Community enterprise projects are those intended to directly contribute to increasing income of its intended beneficiaries while human resource development projects intend to increase local capacities and capabilities.

Kalahi-CIDSS is the flagship poverty-alleviation program of the Philippine government which adopts the community-driven development (CDD) approach as its overall strategy in targeting the poorest municipalities in the country. It is one of the three core poverty alleviation programs implemented by DSWD in partnership with local government units (LGUs).

The objectives of Kalahi-CIDSS is to improve local governance, reduce poverty, and empower communities by honing capacities of the people to analyze their local situation, identify community needs, and implement small-scale community projects in partnership with their LGUs.

CDD empowers the communities through the employment of participatory method, wherein people themselves decide on their priority needs and their responses to address these. Furthermore, they design and implement the project themselves and they manage the resources to be used in implementing the community projects.

After successful implementation of Kalahi-CIDSS in three cycles, comes the next cycle which is called the “Makamasang Tugon” (MT). It is an LGU-led CDD implementation modality under the Kalahi-CIDSS Project where good performing municipalities which have demonstrated adherence to the principles and processes that promote participation, transparency, and accountability in implementing the first 3 cycles of the KC Project is provided with performance-based incentive grant.

Kalahi-CIDSS MT aims to assist LGUs in integrating CDD principles and processes in the local planning and investment programming cycle, by way of an LGU-led implementation scheme of the KALAHI-CIDSS’ CDD technology.

20 municipalities in Bicol qualified under Kalahi-CIDSS MT implementation for 2011-2012 with 216 community projects to be completed. ###jmarbella

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