Top officials of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)
is optimistic of the sustainability of USD434 million US-funded projects in the
country as they celebrate the end of five-year compact.
MCC Chief Executive Officer Dana Hyde said building the
capacities of beneficiaries has raised their confidence that these projects
will have lasting impacts in poor communities.
Hyde and MCC Board member and President of the International
Republican Institute Mark Green was in Leyte
on Thursday to check a footbridge project in Barugo town and talk with project
recipients.
On Wednesday, the two officials met with President Benigno
Aquino III and some cabinet members to highlight compact accomplishments.
“Sustainability is always in the forefront of our
discussions. We are happy that there are legislations in placed and local
government organize maintenance groups. What’s interesting here is organizing
beneficiaries to maintain a project. That is very innovative,” Hyde said.
The first compact was signed in 2010 and has ended on May
25, 2016. The Millennium Challenge Account-Philippines (MCA-P) implemented the
projects, focusing on three areas - improvement of tax revenue collection and
administration, rehabilitation of secondary road network in Samar
provinces, and funded about 4,000 small-scale community development projects in
rural poor communities.
With the revenue reform, the MCC reported more than USD300
million in additional taxes have been generated since 2013, and these figures
continue to grow.
Road rehabilitation covers 222 kilometers of coastal and
mountainous roads and 61 bridges connecting Samar and Eastern
Samar provinces. It reduced transportation costs, expanded
commerce, and helped raise incomes of locals.
The compact’s community-driven development project,
Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (Linking Arms Against Poverty) Comprehensive and
Integrated Delivery of Social Services – known as Kalahi-CIDSS – has funded
thousands of projects in basic infrastructure and social services based on
needs identified and prioritized by residents across Filipino communities.
"Kalahi-CIDSS here is an international model of
Community-Driven Development (CDD) and its impact. I thank the Filipinos for
being the teaching instrument for MCC. We are strong believers now in
CDD," Hyde added.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=889269
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