The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the World Bank recently held the 12th Implementation Support Mission (ISM) for the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) National Community-Driven Development Program (NCDDP) on May 28, 2021.

Chaired by DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito D. Bautista, the 12th ISM showcased the World Bank’s observations, findings, and recommendations on the implementation of the Community-Driven Development (CDD) approach by the KALAHI-CIDSS NCDDP since 2014.

KALAHI-CIDSS uses the CDD approach to ensure people-centered development by providing assistance, capacity-building, and implementation support to poverty-disadvantaged and disaster-affected municipalities. Through the program, community members actively participate to identify and prioritize their community’s problems and allow them to design, implement, and manage solutions to their priority problems.

During the 12th ISM, the World Bank noted the exceptional performance of KALAHI-CIDSS NCDDP in its provision of effective and efficient social services to some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the Philippines, especially in light of the limitations brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, through the full use of its Disaster Response Operations Modality (DROM).

DROM enabled Kalahi-CIDSS covered areas to shift its operations from regular developmental activities into a disaster response modality to hasten the approval of community projects that will enable communities to manage and adapt to the challenges brought about by the pandemic.

Specifically, the Word Bank found that 44% of the 2,425 community sub-projects completed were related to COVID-19 response in the form of quarantine and isolation facilities. The cash-for-work scheme also provided much-needed income for community members to augment their livelihood.

Achim Fock, World Bank Operations Manager for the Philippines, emphasized how CDD  became an integral part of COVID-19 response in the country by providing much needed facilities and resources to poor and marginalized communities.

Results from an assessment of the DROM also showed that some local government units expressed that KALAHI-CIDSS NCDDP, through its participatory process, was instrumental in disseminating COVID-related information in their communities. Furthermore, the program allowed communities to build stronger partnerships with local health officials, thus, enabling them to better implement health and safety protocols not only in implementing the sub-projects, but also in making the quarantine and isolation facilities operational.

Secretary Bautista also shared how the pandemic highlighted the needs of communities — especially those who are  most vulnerable and marginalized — for basic social services to ensure their safety and security. He emphasized that through the DROM of KALAHI-CIDSS, the DSWD was able to continuously provide for and improve the delivery of social services to the marginalized communities.

Likewise the Secretary noted how CDD, in encouraging citizens to take an active role in the identification, implementation, and management of community sub-projects, greatly improved the pandemic response within their respective communities.

DSWD is committed to sustain the achievements of the program and hope that these would be integrated into the local development process in partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government to ensure the attainment of people-centered development around the country. ###