TACLOBAN CITY – Amanda Gorely, the newly-appointed Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, visited partner-beneficiaries of the three biggest programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), namely Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, and Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) in Eastern Visayas last February 22.

Early education support to Pantawid Pamilya

The Australian government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), has been a partner of the DSWD for several years, providing funding support to its programs.

Since 2012, it has provided funding for the construction of day care centers and school buildings through Kalahi-CIDSS to support early education in the Philippines, particularly of the children belonging to Pantawid Pamilya, the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program of the Philippines.

Part of the requirements of the partner-beneficiaries to remain part of the CCT program is to have at least 85% attendance in school. However, part of the problem in the implementation of the program is that some communities continue to have problems with access to school facilities, especially those belonging to geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.

Kalahi-CIDSS, through its partnership with DFAT, seeks to help in resolving this issue by providing day care centers and school buildings in communities included in the program that have identified the need for such facilities.

KC-DFAT

The partnership, dubbed as Kalahi-CIDSS-DFAT (KC-DFAT), has had two phases to date.

DFAT provided a US$10 million grant in the first phase of the KC-DFAT Project, implemented from 2012 to 2014.  Originally intended to fund the construction of 515 classrooms, the project was able to construct 626 classrooms in 76 municipalities, exceeding the target by 22%.

These facilities allowed 15,584 students to have improved access to educational facilities. Among these students, 49% are Pantawid Pamilya partner beneficiaries.

Support to ‘Yolanda’ areas

Eastern Visayas was the site chosen by Ambassador Gorely for the visit because Phase II of the Project includes the provision of support for the construction, reconstruction, or repair of day care centers and school buildings in areas that were affected by Typhoon Yolanda which devastated the country, particularly the Visayas regions, on November 8, 2013.

Phase II of KC-DFAT started in 2014 and is slated to end by June 2016. Of the AU$12 million grant, P105.3 million will be allocated to support the construction or rehabilitation of approximately 117 classrooms in ‘Yolanda’-affected areas.

As with Phase I of the Project, Phase II is expected to exceed its target, as it now aims to construct 603 classrooms, 28.84% higher than its original estimation of 468 classrooms.

DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman credits these achievements of KC-DFAT to the community-driven development strategy utilized by Kalahi-CIDSS.

“In Kalahi-CIDSS, we have the residents themselves working together to construct these day care centers and school buildings. Instead of spending money on contractors, some communities choose to construct these facilities themselves, with technical support from us and their local government units. As such, we get to save money, and these savings are used to construct even more day care centers and school buildings in communities,” she said.

She continued, “Because the citizens are exemplifying the bayanihan spirit, they are actually helping other communities, not just themselves, because the resources they save are used to support the needs of other barangays. Here we can see a two-fold benefit of CDD: it does not just trigger active citizenship, it also promotes good management of resources.”

KC-DFAT in E. Visayas 

In Eastern Visayas, the region that was hit hardest by ‘Yolanda’, 32 sub-projects under KC-DFAT are expected to be constructed under Phase II.  A total of 8,113 households, some 6,177 of which are part of the Pantawid Pamilya, are expected to benefit from these facilities.

The visit included the turnover of a day care center to Barangay San Jose West in Burauen, Leyte, which costs P934,815 and is expected to benefit 35 households. It was constructed through Kalahi-CIDSS with funding support through the DFAT.###