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I AM INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS. Janetha Jaen, a resident of Brgy. Poblacion I in General Luna in Quezon Province, discusses the common problems in their barangay during the Participatory Situational Analysis workshop conducted under the DSWD’s Kalahi-CIDSS program. According to her, she greatly appreciates this process of involving community residents like her towards the development of their barangay.

Residents of 15 municipalities in Quezon Province are being involved in the analysis of their community’s situation and identification of actions to address the problems at the barangay level. This is through a Participatory Situational Analysis (PSA) workshop conducted under the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) program.

The PSA is part of the first stage of the implementation cycle of the Kalahi-CIDSS program where local
residents identify community projects based on their determined problems and needs.

The municipalities of Agdangan, Alabat, Buenavista, Burdeos, Catanauan, General Luna, Macalelon, Perez, Quezon, San Andres, San Antonio, Unisan, and Tagkawayan are doing the said workshop as part of the second cycle of implementation of the Kalahi-CIDSS program, which began last August. On the other hand, the towns of Padre Burgos and Pitogo are also doing the same activity for their first cycle of Kalahi-CIDSS implementation, which also started last August.

In the conduct of the PSA, each sitio in the barangay is represented by three residents. They do focus group discussions to understand and identify the needs of their community and verify these by conducting home visits and interviews among the residents in the barangay.

After which, they identify possible solutions in a form of community projects or barangay programs and activities. They put these into a Barangay Action Plan for endorsement to their barangay council.

The results of the PSA will also be presented in a barangay assembly where the residents will agree on the best project to be prioritized and proposed for funding under the Kalahi-CIDSS program. A group of volunteers will also be nominated to take charge in the preparation of requirements for their proposed project.

Janetha Jaen from Brgy. Poblacion 1 in General Luna, Quezon Province said that she was able to understand how to effectively plan for a community project that will best address the people’s needs. In their case, they saw the need to resolve the flooding problem in their barangay to prevent their road from being destroyed and avoid the spread of sickness.

“Masaya po na naisasama kami sa mga ganitong pagpaplano dahil nakakatulong kami sa pagpapaunlad ng aming komunidad,” said Jaen.

The Kalahi-CIDSS is a poverty reduction program of the DSWD that aims to empower citizens to participate in the local development process and implement projects that can improve the delivery of social services in their communities.

In the CALABARZON region, it has implemented 619 sub-projects last program cycle which include farm-to-market roads, community centers, school buildings, health centers and electrification among others.#