DSWD derived the final list of prioritized poor communities to be funded under Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), one of its poverty reduction programs, from recently completed Municipal Forums in 88 municipalities in Bicol last January.

From 2014-2015 alone, Bicol is allocated with P2,301,239,625.00 out of P4,497,448,175.00 grant allocation for its five-year implementation in the region. One of the Kalahi-CIDSS’ thrusts is to support the post-disaster response and development in Typhoon Yolanda-affected municipalities covered by the program. Areas for coverage were also selected based on poverty incidence.

The Municipal Forum convened all the communities represented by the barangay captains, residents elected as community volunteers, civil society organizations (CSOs), people’s organizations (POs) and representatives of national government agencies (NGAs) together with the mayors and Sangguniang Bayan (SB) members to confirm prioritized projects through a resolution of grant allocation that will respond to the needs of the barangays specially those who are affected by and vulnerable to disasters.

The criteria on how poor communities were prioritized for funding were based on the community’s population, number of Listahanan poor households and the number of damage affected households.

Listahanan is an information management system that identifies who and where the poor by making the database of poor families available and becomes the basis in identifying potential beneficiaries of social protection programs and services.

Initial set of community activities were conducted last October to November 2014 wherein 2,490 barangays participated in the consultation meetings facilitated by DSWD field workers together with the respective barangay officials through the barangay assemblies. The residents agreed and approved the list of priority needs and projects which were generated from the damage assessment and needs analysis (DANA) results provided by the local government units (LGUs) which were extensively validated by the residents and DSWD.

“The participation of ordinary residents in the program is very crucial in the development priorities of the government since they know what they need to solve poverty,” Dir. Arnel Gracia said.

Barangay Assembly is a major avenue for direct participation of the people in local governance agenda for Kalahi-CIDSS, where issues are discussed and decisions are documented and supported.

Kalahi-CIDSS has an “open menu” wherein communities can propose any project, provided the amount involved is within the municipal allocation and does not belong to its negative list.

The prioritized communities are now preparing their respective project proposals to utilize the approved fund allocated to them for projects like multi-purpose building, concrete pathway