KIDAPAWAN CITY -- The government's anti-poverty program has covered at least a hundred thousand households in South and Central Mindanao, data showed.
Projects under the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-Cidss), a community-driven development project implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), included basic social services such as classrooms, day care centers, water systems and rural health centers.
The program is also into provision of basic access infrastructures, such as farm-to-market roads, path walks, hanging bridges, and spillways; and common service facilities, including rice and corn mills, solar driers, and rice threshers.
These projects, according to Kalahi-Cidss project coordinator for Region 12 Gemma Rivera, are spread over the provinces of North Cotabato, Sarangani and South Cotabato.
The DSWD in the region, however, has yet to conduct an official survey to measure the impact of Kalahi-Cidss to its beneficiaries.
"Initially, it has found out that the program has increased the income of poor barangay residents through employment in project construction work," Rivera said.
Rivera said the projects that were spread all over the region have already benefited thousands of poor people in the countryside, particularly those living in far-flung areas.
In 2009, 59 projects worth P80 million were completed and had benefited 21,530 households in 61 barangays in Region 12.
The Kalahi-Cidss, a World Bank-funded project, aims to 42 out of 79 poorest municipalities in the poorest provinces of the Philippines. This is equivalent to more than 4,000 villages in 182 towns.
According to the 2009 national performance report of the DSWD, the project has rolled out some 5,326 community projects amounting to P5.785 billion since it started in 2003.
"The Kalahi-Cidss is one of the flagship poverty alleviation projects of the government that supports a community-driven development approach, aiming to reduce poverty," Rivera said.