MANILA – Two of the programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) are slated to be showcased in the local governance fair organized by the Galing Pook Foundation, a non-stock, non-profit organization that commits to promote innovation and excellence in local governance. The fair will be held on August 30-September 1, 2015 at the SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City.

The Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) and the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (Pantawid Pamilya) will be among the programs that will be featured in the said activity as good governance and citizen empowerment initiatives.

The fair, entitled “Mamamayan, Mamamayani,” is intended to recognize the good governance initiatives of civil society organizations (CSOs), non-government organizations (NGOs), national government agencies (NGAs), and local government units (LGUs) from across the country. In particular, it seeks to acknowledge the efforts made by the said organizations in promoting citizen participation in local governance.

The DSWD seeks to promote people participation and empower citizens, particularly those who are poor, marginalized, and vulnerable, through its programs such as Kalahi-CIDSS and Pantawid Pamilya.

As a community-driven development (CDD) program, Kalahi-CIDSS seeks to help alleviate poverty by capacitating people so they will have the opportunity to identify, implement, and manage community projects and resources that will address their most pressing needs. Through CDD, residents learn how to work together so they can manage the problems affecting their villages.

The community projects identified by the citizens usually come in the form of small-scale infrastructure projects that address basic social service needs, such as school buildings, day care centers, health centers, pathways, rice or corn mills, or electrification projects.

Kalahi-CIDSS also seeks to improve local governance by tightening the ties between LGUs and communities so that they can work together to ensure sustainable local development, even after the program leaves the area.

Meanwhile, Pantawid Pamilya empowers communities primarily through the Family Development Sessions (FDS), which trains parents in how to manage their families effectively.

Some of the gains of the two programs will be presented during the governance fair in a session entitled “Stories of Change: Panibagong Kuwento, Kuwentong Pagbabago” on August 30 at 1:30 p.m.

This session will look into the changes that have happened in the lives of the partner-beneficiaries of these two programs since they became involved in Kalahi-CIDSS and/or Pantawid Pamilya. Among those who will be featured are villages from Ajuy, Iloilo and Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, in which residents served as Kalahi-CIDSS community volunteers to help protect their families from poverty. Also to be featured are Alyannah Terite, Allaine Marie Billoan, and Mark Joseph del Prado, Pantawid Pamilya partner-beneficiaries and student achievers who recently graduated from high school.

According to DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman, the “Mamamayan, Mamamayani” local governance fair provides the Agency the opportunity to show how the programs do not only seek to promote improved governance, but also aim for sustainable change within poor communities.

She said, “Kalahi-CIDSS and Pantawid Pamilya are more than just short-term responses to poverty. We hope to empower citizens from poor communities and train them so that they can learn to invest in health and education in Pantawid Pamilya, and later, so they can participate in local development issues through Kalahi-CIDSS.”

She continued, “Through their participation in these programs, they get to learn that they can do more for their families and their communities, and even for themselves.”

Sec. Soliman also mentioned how the Sustainable Livelihood Program, the third major program of the DSWD, provides economic opportunities for people affected by poverty, thereby providing another safety net that will help support the changes happening in their lives.

Aside from the DSWD and the Galing Pook Foundation, the other agencies that will participate in the fair include the Department of Budget and Management, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Yapak ni Jesse, CODE-NGO, Synergeia, Action for Economic Reform, and the World Bank.