Poor villages in Bicol get Php689 million for school buildings,
The pupils of Dancalan East Central School, the biggest school in Donsol in Sorsogon, forms a human smiley to show gratitude for their one-unit three classroom school building funded under Kalahi-CIDSS.

Poor villages in need of additional classrooms in Bicol received a total grant of Php688,986,604.7 for the construction, rehabilitation and repair of 473 school buildings from 2002 to present under the community driven development program of DSWD’s Kalahi-CIDSS (Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services) that seeks to help alleviate poverty.

Out of the total school buildings, there were 254 completed and the rest are under construction that will benefit 115,737 households.

Projects under Kalahi-CIDSS following the CDD approach are identified by the residents themselves and funded based on the approval of the people through the Barangay Assembly and undergoes the public’s consensual decision in the municipal prioritization activity called Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum (MIBF).

Luz Jubelo, a Pantawid Pamilya beneficiary of Donsol, Sorsogon, said classrooms are vital for her children’s education so she proactively participated in the construction of their 1 unit 3 Classroom School Building in Brgy. Dancalan which was implemented through Kalahi-CIDSS.

The management of funds and resources are directly given to the elected residents of their respective projects with the assistance of the barangay and municipal local government units (LGUs). To date, LGUs provided their local counterpart contribution of Php69,912,845.62 for these school buildings.

According to Sec. Soliman: “Ang tutok ng Kalahi-CIDSS ay CDD. ibig sabihin, magkakasama ang mamayan na susuriin yung kanilang sitwasyon at sila yung magtutukoy kung ano yung mahalagang proyekto na nagbibigay solusyon sa kanilang nakitang pangunahing problema (The focus of Kalahi- CIDSS is CDD. Meaning, the citizens come together to review their situation and they will also identify important projects that will provide solutions to their main problems found).”

The operations of the community-driven development (CDD) approach expanded into a national scale, which was tried and proven effective by Kalahi-CIDSS. 101 poor municipalities in Bicol are under its expansion from 2014 to 2019 with a total of grant of Php4,497,448,178.

From 2002 to present, there are 4,283 community-identified projects that will provide basic access infrastructures, basic social services, community production, economic support and common service facilities and environment protection and conservation in 106 municipalities for Bicol Region alone.