DSWD to assess towns for rehabilitation projects
By Cet Dematera
THE Department of Social Welfare and Development through its Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan---Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (DSWD KALAHI-CIDSS) would be including in its capacity assessment or readiness to implement programs more Bicol towns that were affected by disasters and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ranelle Anne Sertan, DSWD Bicol KALAHI-CIDDS spokesperson, said that they are targeting some 76 Bicol towns for inclusion in the capacity assessment to implement programs, including those to be funded by the World Bank (WB).
She said that because of the impact of the disasters that hit Bicol and the Covid-19 pandemic, WB has agreed to finance additional programs for the recovery and rehabilitation efforts of these affected towns.
Sertan said that these WB-funded projects will be implemented using the Community-Based Response for Covid-19 (CBRC) modality as part of the recovery efforts from the pandemic.
She explained that the CBRC modality will use the process dubbed “disaster response operating procedure or DROP,” which is a shortened version of the KALAHI-CIDDS program implementation.
“Because these rehabilitation interventions are aimed at alleviating the sorry plight of the affected communities, we have to do away with some processes for these projects to be completed as soon as possible,” Sertan told Bicol Mail.
She said that some of the steps to be removed from the usual processes are conducting of barangays assemblies and minimizing activities that would involve more people and big gatherings.
“These crowd-drawing phases that we usually do in conducting KALAHI-CIDSS projects are set aside in the meantime that there are required quarantine protocols. Plus this will expedite completion of projects related to the campaign versus Covid-19, including the construction of isolation and quarantine facilities,” Sertan added.
Sertan said that DSWD KALAHI-CIDDS will be conducting this May capacity assessment for the 31 local government units (LGUs) pre-identified by their central office.
These are Camalig, Malinao, Polangui, Pio Duran, Rapu-Rapu, Libon, Tiwi and Oas in Albay; Bato, Gainza, Pamplona, Sipocot, Calabanga, Baao, Bula and Caramoan in Camarines Sur; Donsol, Pilar, Castilla, Gubat and Bulan in Sorsogon; Palanas, San Pascual, Cawayan; Cataingan; Uson, and Mandaon in Masbate; Bagamanoc, Viga, and San Andres in Catanduanes; and, Basud in Camarines Norte.
The capacity assessment measures the LGU’s readiness to participate and undertake program implementation this year, Sertan said.
She added that the activity also evaluates good governance using the nine United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) characteristics as proxy indicators and existing LGU performance assessment indicators set by different national government agencies (NGAs).
The nine UNDP characteristics are participation, rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, consensus, orientation, equity, effectiveness, and efficiency.
Aside from the UNDP characteristics, the program will also evaluate and monitor the LGUs on sustainability and Community-Driven Development (CDD) Institutionalization initiatives, she said.
“These LGUs were determined based on the poverty incidence, income class, number of barangays ,and were affected by disasters from 2014-2020,” Sertan added.
DSWD KALAHI-CIDSS is a poverty alleviation program that uses the Community-Driven Development (CDD) approach that helps communities in poor municipalities to identify challenges along poverty, make informed decisions, and gives control of resources to address local poverty.