DSWD launches P43 billion poverty eradication program

Street children in Cebu. / Wikipedia Photo

MANILA — An anti-poverty program worth P43.9 billion, which aims to provide development funds among poor municipalities, was launched yesterday by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“By giving citizens the opportunity to come together and decide among themselves how to address their poverty situation and providing them with the technical and financial support to do so, we are ensuring that their needs are addressed effectively,” Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said in a report for the Philippine Star.

The National Community Driven Development Program (NCDDP), a nationwide expansion of the DSWD’s Kapitbisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), was funded by the World Bank with $100 million in 2003.

This year, the Asian Development Bank and World Bank will fund NCDDP with $372.1 million and $479 million, respectively.

A counter-part funding worth P9.3-billion will also be given by the Aquino administration to make the project last until 2019.

The NCDDP will cover 58 provinces including the 11 original beneficiaries (Quezon, Zamboanga del Norte, Lanao del Norte, Davao del Norte, Saranggani, Agusan del Norte, Iloilo, Ifugao, Masbate, Siquijor, and Eastern Samar).

Soliman said that the program will be using a community-driven approach in order to empower the fourth to sixth class municipalities by helping them organize and analyze their situations and fund their own projects.

In 2003, the projects financed by the program closed to 6,000 local projects worth $265 million which benefited over 1.6 million households.

With reports from Philippine Star