Alangalang, Leyte –Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Deputy Secretary Ewen McDonald  will lead the project launch of the Australian grant for the construction of early childhood and development centers, to be implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services-National Community-Driven Development Program (KALAHI CIDSS-NCDDP), tomorrow in this town.

The grant, worth AU$12 million, will be used for the construction of approximately 468 classrooms and day care centers in communities where KALAHI CIDSS-NCDDP will be implemented.

These communities have been identified to have significant gaps in education.

Part of the criteria for funding is that the communities should have the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, another poverty alleviation program of the DSWD that provides conditional cash transfers to qualified families so they can support the health and education of the children.

The project, which will run from 2014 to 2016, is also part of the national government’s post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation following Typhoon Yolanda.

Approximately 117 of its target 468 classrooms and day care centers will be constructed in ‘Yolanda’-affected areas.

“This project shows the continuing strong partnership between us and the Australian government to respond to our country’s continuing problems with poverty and lack of education. Through these school buildings and day care centers, we are not only helping provide for the supply side requirement of Pantawid Pamilya, we are also taking steps to ensure that these children, particularly those who have been affected by ‘Yolanda’, will have a fighting chance for a better future,” DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman said.

Previous partnership

Prior to the provision of the said grant, the DFAT has already extended a US$10 million grant in 2012 to KALAHI-CIDSS for the construction of school buildings and day care centers in 200 municipalities.

Originally meant to cover the construction of 515 of said structures, KALAHI CIDSS-NCDDP was able to implement 626, or 122% of its target, through savings, generated partly because of the community-driven development (CDD) strategy of the program, in which residents themselves work together to implement their identified sub-project.

The day care centers and school buildings benefited some 102,213 households, with 15,584 students able to study in the said educational facilities.

KALAHI CIDSS-NCDDP

KALAHI CIDSS-NCDDP is the expanded version of the Kalahi-CIDSS, piloted by the national government in 2002 and launched in 2003 to alleviate poverty in poor rural communities using the CDD approach.

CDD focuses on empowering and building up the capacities of citizens and local government units so they will be able to lift their own communities out of poverty, giving them the opportunity to make informed decisions on locally identified options for development and manage resources to implement sub-projects that address the needs they have identified.

Designed to respond to the needs of the communities affected by ‘Yolanda’, 554 of its 847 target municipalities were hit by the typhoon last November 2013.

KALAHI CIDSS-NCDDP will be implemented from 2014 to 2019. ###