Cagayan de Oro – The Department of Social Welfare and Development Northern Mindanao recently conducted the assessment and 2015 strategic planning of Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services – Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (KALAHI CIDSS-PAMANA). The KC-PAMANA is a flagship anti-poverty program of the national government that empowers conflict communities to be involved in development through community-driven development approach (CDD) with support from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

The activity aims to discuss and evaluate unaccomplished targets of 2014 that need to be addressed this year by strategizing the work plans and enhancing as well as synchronizing the activities of the remaining months of the implementation.

In the opening program, DSWD Regional Office X Assistant Regional Director for Operation Aldersey M. de la Cruz, shared her message with the emphasis on the encouragement to all KC-PAMANA Area Coordinators to do their job efficiently and effectively in order to deliver the best public service to the PAMANA areas.

To date, KC-PAMANA will be implemented in pilot municipalities/areas in the province of Lanao del Norte which are Kauswagan, Matungao, Poona Piagapo, Tangcal, Tagoloan, Pantao Ragat, Salvador and Magsaysay.

The KC-PAMANA program is anchored on Empowering Communities by giving poorest barangays access to and control of key development decisions and resources through community mobilization techniques; Improving Local Governance by ensuring that transparency; accountability and community participation are either installed or revitalized in the barangay and municipal government structures; and Reducing Poverty by giving funds for barangay projects (public goods, community enterprise, and human resource development) which improves access to basic services and increases productivity in the communities.

Written by: Luis T. Arquiza, DSWD