GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 22 May) – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 12 has completed eight more school building projects worth P9.62 million that were implemented through its flagship socio-economic initiative Kalahi-CIDSS.
Bai Zorahayda Taha, DSWD Region 12 director, said Thursday the new school buildings were among the priority community-based projects in the region that were funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid).
She said the projects, which comprised five units of two-classroom school buildings and three day care centers, were completed earlier this month and immediately turned over to their community-beneficiaries.
These were implemented in Barangays Alibayon, Amabel, Bantac, Imamaling, Kauswagan, and Owas in Magpet, North Cotabato; Lamsalome in T’boli, South Cotabato; and, Kolambog in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.
“These school building and day care center projects answered the pressing needs of these remote communities, where either dilapidated or makeshift classrooms greet learners during the opening of classes,” Taha said in a statement.
As of this month, the official said they have already implemented 121 school building projects worth P152.76 million through the Kalahi-CIDSS.
AusAid partnered with the DSWD last year to augment the continuing implementation of the Kalahi-CIDSS program.
Kalahi-CIDSS stands for Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services, a World Bank-assisted poverty alleviation project implemented since 2003 by the DSWD.
Under the Kalahi-CIDSS, poor communities are capacitated to analyze their own problems, manage, plan, and implement their identified project to answer their pressing needs.
In Region 12, the project was able to help build various community infrastructure projects such as school buildings, bridges, health stations, water systems, day care centers, roads, post-harvest facilities, and other common services.