The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will pay tribute to its partners from the local government units (LGUs) and community volunteers during the conduct of the 3^rd National Community Volunteers’ Congress and 5^th Bayani Ka! Awards to be held on August 13 to 15, 2019 in Butuan City.

The activity is an annual event of DSWD, through its program Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), to celebrate the success of community-driven development (CDD), which is implemented across 827 municipalities nationwide.

This year’s event is themed “Padayon, Kalahi-CIDSS!,” which echoes the call of stakeholders to institutionalize the CDD strategy in DSWD programs and in the local development process of municipalities.

More than 250 participants are expected to attend the activity, which will be composed of community volunteers, local chief executives, and barangay officials from 14 regions nationwide.

The program will commence with Bayani Ka! Awards where 111 program stakeholders will be recognized for their notable efforts and initiatives on CDD under nine categories: Gender and Development, Indigenous Peoples’ Welfare, Promotion of Just Peace, Persons with Disability Welfare, Elderly, Improved Local Governance, Environment Protection, Youth, and Sustained Community Volunteers Group.

The participants will also have a learning visit in the communities of Carmen, Agusan del Norte, and in San Agustin, Barobo, and Hinatuan, in Surigao del Sur. They will have the opportunity to exchange learnings and share experiences with the local volunteers and officials, specifically on their engagement in the CDD process.

Since 2017, the DSWD Kalahi-CIDSS has been conducting the National Community Volunteers’ Congress annually. The previous congresses were conducted in Metro Manila and Cebu City in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Kalahi-CIDSS is one of poverty alleviation programs of DSWD stipulated in the Magna Carta of the Poor. It uses the CDD approach in empowering communities that provides the opportunity for participation by giving them control over decisions and resources. Through CDD, sub-projects target the immediate needs of the communities and community members have larger stake in their own development.           

To date, there are 604,048 community volunteers who worked together to complete the 26,828 community sub-projects nationwide. -30-