BUTUAN CITY, Philippines –- Village communities, especially farmers in far-flung areas bear the fruit of the poverty program of the national government as more infrastructure projects were already completed while there are also more new projects are being targeted.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) tasked to supervise the poverty alleviation program of the national government yesterday reported that at least 29 various infrastructure projects of Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services: Kapangyarihan at Kaunlaran sa Barangay (Kalahi-CIDSS-KKB) were already completed at various areas in the Caraga region.

Leah T. Quintana, region’s social and welfare information officer said these completed projects involved P261,746,900. grant.

She said the projects spread all over the region had already benefited thousands of poor people in the countryside, particularly those living in far-flung areas.

The KALAHI-CIDSS:KKB program is the contribution of the DSWD to the poverty alleviation program of the national government. It also revitalized strategy based on the strength or success of the existing CIDSS project.

These infrastructure projects started the implementation in 2003 and covered 16 municipalities in the Caraga region, said Region Xlll DSWD Regional Director Mercedita Jabagat.

These projects ranging from potable water systems, roads, school buildings, post-harvest facilities, environmental protection structures, day care and health centers and others.

Local Cash Counterpart (LCC) also downloaded by partner local government units (LGUs) totaled P80,187,132.84.The amount utilized from grant and LCC is over P322.16 million

Meanwhile, the “Pantawid Pamilyang” program, another poverty alleviation program of the national government is targeting anew at least 61,920 beneficiaries nationwide for 2011-2013.

This sustainable livelihood program of the DSWD this year is part of the department’s Convergence Program for Poverty Reduction, which provides entrepreneurship capacity building for all “Pantawid Pamilya” beneficiaries, said Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman, in a press statement.

According to Secretary Soliman, the program also offers two tracks of assistance namely: Self-Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K) and Guaranteed Employment (GE).

SEA-K will enable the Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries to establish and manage their own micro-enterprises through an entrepreneurial skills training program that includes the provision of non-collateral and interest-free loan amounting to Php 10,000 per family-beneficiary as seed capital.

On the other hand, the GE scheme will access the “Pantawid Pamilya” beneficiaries to locally available jobs through a job network system that will be established in partnership with national government agencies, non-government organizations and business sector.

With the P150,000 capital seed fund provided by the DSWD for their individual microenterprise project, the group members made 100% compliance to their target loan repayment and savings. The Alpha SKA members actively participated in the different community activities such as weekly SKA meetings and monthly family development sessions. They also engaged in a mutual benefit association for their family’s micro-insurance policy.

From January to March 2011, the DSWD has started the selection and profiling of the 61,920 family-beneficiaries in identified municipalities.

Likewise, the DSWD already coordinated with concerned government agencies, NGOs and private sector to discuss partnership opportunities for micro-enterprise development, job-generation, technical assistance and access to micro-insurance.

In a related development, local government units (LGUs), concerned line agencies and other stakeholders in Northeastern Mindanao (Caraga region) gathered at a downtown hotel and restaurant at this capital and frontier city of Butuan early this week and tackled various issues that will strengthen the Human Resource Management and Development Plan (HRMD).

The stakeholders specifically made their action plan for the year 2011 and beyond on how to quickly respond the basic needs of the local communities through the LGU’s and concerned line agencies of the government.

The meeting spearheaded by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) under the Strengthening Local Governments in the Philippines Project (SLGP) sponsored by the Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarollo (AECID).

The meeting and workshop also formalized the HRMD Plan conducted last December 2010. It was aimed at perfecting the initial HRMD Plan crafted last year by using various tools for the development of a good HRMD plan.