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     Pilar, Bohol -The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) considers Kalahi-CIDSS or Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) a good strategy to fight poverty and foster change in the countryside.

      AusAID sent here a five-man team, led by Peter Bazeley, last month to know more about Kalahi-CIDSS.

      DSWD Regional Director Ma. Evelyn Macapobre and Assistant Regional Director Nemia Antipala personally escorted the team to the project sites in Barangay Estaca to meet with the village officials and community volunteers.

      The foreign guests were impressed when the community volunteers explained how KC has been implemented in the barangay, with the construction of three-classroom school building worth more than P1.6 million and a solar dryer project which only amounted to less than P700.

      The volunteers further explained that they were consulted by the DSWD before, during  and after the project implementation, starting from the identification of needs of the community through barangay assembly.

      They also demonstrated the concept on people empowerment when they showed  how they prepared their project proposals in the dialect which they eventually submitted and presented during  the  Municipal Inter Barangay Forum (MIBF).

      A volunteer fluently explained to the visitors how they were exposed by the project to various capability building activities to be able to handle the project successfully to benefit majority of the poor constituents.

      Among the processes illustrated by the volunteers included procurement activities which they themselves did like canvass of construction materials and opening of bids by their own Bids and Awards Committee while the group’s Project Implementation Team (PIT) undertook oversight tasks on the progress of various works.

      During the actual ocular inspection, the community proudly showed off its three-classroom building and solar dryer which they themselves maintained with funding assistance from their barangay.

      So far the project has already been earning well. In fact, at least 1,025 households have already enjoyed the benefits of the KC project as of this time.

      Macapobre said Kalahi-CIDSS has been recognized internationally including World Bank as one of the best poverty reduction initiatives in the world.

      In Central Visayas alone, it has completed 363 sub-projects like farm-to-market roads, construction of school buildings, day care centers, multi-purpose and health centers, bridges, water and electrification projects.

      She said an additional 58 sub-projects are expected to be completed at the end of this year in the provinces of Bohol and Siquijor. (contributed)

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