The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) was conferred with a Presidential Citation by outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in recognition of the Department’s significant contribution in alleviating poverty among Filipinos, particularly through the government programs Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan and the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

The Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services: Kapangyarihan at Kaunlaran sa Barangay (KALAHI-CIDSS: KKB) Project, the DSWD’s core program in community empowerment, has been cited for its provision of “capacity-building, implementation support and community grants to 4,583 barangays in 200 of the poorest municipalities across the country” since 2001.

The program was also cited “for improving the lives of Filipinos by empowering them to chart the directions of their local development.”

The community projects include basic social services, such as classrooms, day care centers, water systems and rural health centers; Basic Access Infrastructure, such as farm-to-market roads, path walks, hanging bridges, and spillways; and Common Service Facilities, such as rice and corn mills, solar driers, and rice threshers. Likewise, environmental protection projects include riprapping and slope protection, embankments, and line canals; as well as skills training and capability building in skills training centers. (Ellalyn B. De Vera)