DSWD pushes for institutionalization of its community-driven development program
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Thursday, May 30 pushed for the institutionalization of its community-driven development program, known as Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan—Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS).
During a media forum, KALAHI-CIDSS National Program Manager (NPM) Atty. Bernadette Mapue-Joaquin urged legislators to institutionalize the KALAHI-CIDSS given the program’s two-decade existence.
She explained that various versions of the Community-Driven Development (CDD) Bill have been proposed in Congress since 2019.
These bills aim to institutionalize and operationalize the CDD approach, provide capacity building and technical assistance, and establish an inter-agency advisory council, Mapue-Joaquin said.
The “Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program,” one of the innovative programs of DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian, is undergoing institutionalization following the issuance of Executive Order (EO) No. 44, establishing it as a flagship program.
Mapue-Joaquin said institutionalizing CDD will ensure sustained community participation and empowerment.
“Many communities have already been helped, but there are still many more communities in need of assistance through our KALAHI-CIDSS program. Please help us to continue and institutionalize the program. Assist us in continuing to provide aid to the communities or those communities in dire need,” she said in Filipino.
Based on DSWD data, KALAHI-CIDSS has already benefited over 22 million poor, vulnerable, marginalized, and geographically isolated households, through 83,155 subprojects, which include access roads, water systems, barangay health stations, and child development centers.
It is one of the poverty alleviation programs of the DSWD that engages communities to identify, design, and implement development projects to address their most pressing needs.