Bohol, Danao Communities Tackle Implementation of Rehab Funds

Representatives from the communities of the municipality of Danao and province of Bohol, gathered recently to discuss the implementation of rehabilitation funds given to the towns by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a United States Congress funding agency who has poured in additional grant intended for the Yolanda and Earthquake-stricken municipalities.

Simeon A. Remata, DSWD7 Regional Social Marketing Officer said that the said activity was called a Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum (MIBF) which is one of the critical processes developed and implemented by the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), a poverty reduction program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Remata emphasized that the said endeavor has been scaled-up into a national program last year because of its effectiveness in addressing community needs and overall community empowerment.

According to Remata , the MIBF fosters community participation and project transparency wherein ordinary community folks coming from different barangays get to decide and plan how the development plans will be implemented, making service delivery and local governance more responsive.

Meanwhile DSWD7 Regional Director Mercedita Jabagat explained that MCC is committed to help uplift the living conditions of poor communities in the country and has provided additional grant intended for the rehabilitation of community projects they have previously funded.

Jabagat also said that aside from Danao, two other towns in Bohol will also receive rehabilitation funds from MCC.

“A big chunk of the rehabilitation funds is allocated for Eastern Visayas because it has the most damaged MCC-funded community projects.” she said.

She added that in Central Visayas, the earthquake-stricken towns of Danao, Buenavista, and Carmen have been identified with a total of 36 partially and totally damaged community projects to be included in the rehabilitation program.

Kalahi-CIDSS uses a Community-Driven Development (CDD) technology which harnesses the potentials of the members of a barangay to identify and prioritize problems and needs of their community and propose solutions through small-scale infrastructure projects.

Since 2003, Kalahi-CIDSS has produced 587 community projects in 12 poor municipalities in the province of Bohol.

Jabagat added the Community projects ranging from farm-to-market roads, irrigation and water systems, school buildings, health and day care centers, solar dryers, tourism projects to rainwater collectors- all conceptualized and implemented by the communities themselves in partnership with their local government units.