Mayors want say on projects
- Details
- Published on Monday, 14 March 2011 13:23
- Written by KC
MAYORS OF poor municipalities have recommended to the administration the adoption of a bottoms-up approach in poverty-reduction projects, according to a resolution submitted yesterday to Malacañang.
The mayors who attended the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) Mayors’ Forum on Integrating CDD (community-driven development) in Local Governance Practice, called on the national government to use CDD in implementing anti-poverty programs.
"They are suggesting making CDD as a strategy of the national government in all, if not, most of the projects," Social Welfare Secretary Corazon J. Soliman said in an interview after the forum held at the Palace.
She explained that the CDD scheme will allow community beneficiaries to take part in the decision-making, say, with the Department of Public Works and Highways, during project identification and implementation.
"A huge part of effectiveness rests on the fact that the community supports as well as maintains the projects like irrigation systems and roads because the people know they need the project and they were the ones who chose those projects," Ms. Soliman said.
In response to the request, the secretary said President Benigno S. C. Aquino III has directed the Cabinet cluster on human development to study the resolution, in particular, its implications and implementation details.
"It will be reviewed by the human development cluster. In one month, we will have a recommendation to the President," she added.
The human development cluster is composed of the departments of Social Welfare and Development, Education, Interior and Local Government, Science and Technology and Labor and Employment, the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, National Anti-Poverty Commission, Commission on Higher Education, and National Economic and Development Authority.
Ms. Soliman said the mayors have sought wider program coverage to some 700 municipalities next year from an estimated 400 this year. -- Ana Mae G. Roa