Japan gives $20 M for Yolanda communities

MANILA, Philippines - Japan has given the Philippines a $20-million grant for the rehabilitation of Yolanda-devastated areas in Eastern Visayas.

Given through the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), the $20-million grant aims to cover some 1.2 million beneficiaries.

Of the $20 million, $11 million was allotted to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Of the $11 million, $3 million will be used for rehabilitation projects to be implemented through the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), one of the DSWD’s three core poverty alleviation programs. 

The Kalahi-CIDSS program mainly taps barangay  councils in low-income communities to choose development projects to be funded by grants or loans from the national government or overseas development assistance.

The barangays are obliged to participate in the implementation and monitoring of the selected project.

Kalahi-CIDSS communities in the region have already selected classroom construction as the projects to be funded.

Ten classrooms will also be repaired through a budget of P7.08 million.

Kalahi-CIDSS targets the speedy recovery of 220 small-scale infrastructure in 13 municipalities using the community-driven development (CDD) strategy, a development approach empowering and building up the capacities of citizens and local governments to lift their own communities out of poverty. – With Helen Flores