KALAHI-CIDSS, otherwise known as the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services, is one of the poverty alleviation programs of the Philippine Government being implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). It uses the community-driven development (CDD) approach, a globally recognized strategy for achieving service delivery, poverty reduction, and good governance outcomes.
Started in 2003, its scale-up was approved on 18 January 2013 by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Board, which was headed by President Benigno Aquino III.
CDD:
Helps communities in poor municipalities identify challenges around reducing poverty and make informed decisions on a range of locally identified options for development, including how this is made and in what form;
Gives control of resources to address local poverty to communities; and
Builds the capacity of both state (including local governments) and civil society stakeholders to provide assistance and respond to calls for support from poor communities as they implement development initiatives.
The development objective of KALAHI-CIDSS is to have barangays/communities of targeted municipalities become empowered to achieve improved access to services and to participate in more inclusive local planning, budgeting, and implementation.
Community members are equipped with skills and know-how in making informed decisions on what community projects to implement in their barangay that will address their local development challenges.
is given back to the people by giving them an opportunity to play an active role in leading in the design, development, and implementation of their chosen community sub-projects.
The program helps local officials by providing input and equipping them with tools and capabilities that will help in their local planning processes to determine their local development priorities.
KALAHI-CIDSS aims to:
Empower communities by treating them not as passive recipients of assistance and services but as partners in development;
Improve local governance by improving people’s engagement with and access to their LGUs, thereby making it more democratic and participatory;
Reduce poverty by implementing barangay-level projects that respond to the communities’ felt needs and problems.
KALAHI-CIDSS is expected to achieve the following benefits for communities:
Better access to basic services;
Improve core local poverty indicators in project municipalities;
Increase percentages of households that report an increase in knowledge, skills, and confidence to participate collectively in local governance activities in project municipalities;
Improve the attendance of members from marginalized groups in barangay assemblies