Bicol communities submit 500 proposals for Kalahi-CIDSS funding

From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 17): Bicol communities submit 500 proposals for Kalahi-CIDSS funding

Bicol communities identified the most pressing need in their villages and submitted 500 community proposals under the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS. “People living in the communities know more about their current local conditions and making them identify their priorities is important in the formulation of development plans,” Bicol's Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)director Remia T. Tapispisan said. Tapispisan said that the community proposals were made by a group of trained community members called the Project Preparation Team (PPT).

Elected by each of the barangays during the Barangay Assembly (BA) for the validation of the identified needs in the community, the teams were taught the key processes and tools to identify, select, and design appropriate solutions to address such problems, she explained. “Community proposals are presented during the prioritization activity where the community volunteers, municipal and national governments, non-government organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs) and other groups and individuals within a municipality are gathered. This is called the Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum- Participatory Resource Allocation (MIBF-PRA) in which community proposals are prioritized for funding,” Tapispisan said.

MIBF is a criteria-based allocation of development investments where all barangays within a certain municipality decide what community proposals should be approved for funding. The grant a municipality may receive is equal to the total number of barangays multiplied by P450,000. These funds are directly downloaded to the community accounts once the community proposals are approved for implementation.

George Borja, a community volunteer from Prieto Diaz, Sorsogon has celebrated with the villagers of Tupaz as their barangay submitted a community proposal to buy motorized bancas amounting to P1.2 million. “I would not only thank those who voted for our project but also those people who understood where we are coming from. I hope that we keep our compassion towards one another because this will take us to the road of development],” Borja said.

As part of its expansion in 2012, Kalahi-CIDSS is currently being implemented in Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Catanduanes, Sorsogon and Masbate with a total of 19 municipalities.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=480500