The Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) is now training the newly hired staff for Area Coordinating Teams (ACT) mobilization for the bottom-up budgeting in pilot areas in the region.
The training, held at the Leyte Park Resort Hotel, started on February 16 – 18, 2012 for the 1st batch or for the staff under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) fund. Training is on-going for the staff under the World Bank Additional Fund (WB-AF) at the same venue.
The ACT is composed of Area Coordinators, Deputy Area Coordinators, Municipal Financial Analysts, and Community Facilitators.
Natividad Sequito, Regional Project Coordinator, said that the training aims to equip and orient the newly hired staff about KALAHI-CIDSS and the Community Driven Development (CDD) process.
“After the training, these new staff will be deployed to the pilot municipalities for 10 days, before they will be sent to their permanent assigned municipalities. They will be exposed on the realities and ground conditions of the KALAHI-CIDSS municipalities wherein they are tasked to gather insights and lessons on integrating local community priorities into NGA plans and budgets. Also, they are required to keep field notes, reflection papers and reports”, RPC Sequito added.
The final output for the whole duration of the 10-day exposure of the new staff is the project proposals based on the Local Anti-Poverty Plan (LAPP) of the covered pilot municipalities.
The municipalities covered in the region are: Las Navas, Silvino Lobos and San Roque; all in Northern Samar. Other municipalities are: Matuginao, Tagapul-an, Sto. Niňo, Sta. Rita, Gandara, Tarangnan, Sta. Margarita, San Jose de Buan, Daram, Motiong, Paranas, Pinabacdao and Villareal, Samar.
This bottom-up budgeting in KALAHI-CIDSS is based on the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) issuance of national budget memorandum number 112 dated December 29, 2011. This mandates the use of bottom-up budgeting process in the preparation of National Government Agencies (NGAs) budget for FY 2013 that will fund anti-poverty programs and projects of about 300 to 400 focus municipalities and cities identified by the Human Development and Poverty Reduction Cabinet Cluster (HDPRCC).
KALAHI-CIDSS is an anti-poverty project of the government spearheaded by the DSWD. It aims to empower the community, improve local governance, and reduce poverty.