The Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS)- of the Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office 6 received a national recognition in the implementation of Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) projects in Western Visayas.

Kalahi-CIDSS- DSWD 6 received a trophy for topping the category on safety and health practice during the Project Review and Implementation of AusAID funded projects held on July 23-26,2013 at the La Breza Hotel in Quezon City, Manila.

The best practice on safety and health practice was depicted through an audio visual presentation entitled “Babaye.” The AVP was filmed in Velasco Elementary School in Barangay Velasco, in the municipality of Lemery. The voice over was made by Bombo Radyo’s Assistant Station Manager Mary Divine Grace Cuello.

Barangay Velasco is one of the seven barangays in Lemery. It has availed the AusAID grant for the construction of 1 unit 3-classroom building for Velasco Elementary School.

Aside from the trophy, Kalahi-CIDSS also received a certificate of recognition for giving emphasis in its advocacy the mainstreaming of gender and development in the implementation of the AusAID funded project. In Kalahi-CIDSS, women participation in paid labor is strongly encourage.

The documentation strongly demonstrates the capacity of women to work in the construction while advancing the safety and health practice at the construction site. Construction workers to include women are obliged to wear hard hat, hand gloves and safety boots in the construction site.

Signages are properly installed to protect and caution workers, students and passers-by of the possible risk from falling objects such as stones and iron bars while the construction of the P1.9 million school building is on-going.

The strict enforcement of the safety and health practice was inculcated by the town’s Municipal Engineer Noel Sobremisana to the people during the municipal orientation, which resulted to zero accident at the project site.

The documentation of the region’s practices is part of the implementers’ assessment to document the process employed in each region in terms of preparation and implementation of AusAID funded projects.

Aside from the recognition earned by Kalahi-CIDSS in the best practice on safety and health, it also earned a recognition on the success story dubbed as “Edukasyon-In the Eyes of the Indigenous People” in Brgy. Agbun-od, Jamindan in Capiz.

AusAID provided a grant amounting to P75.3 million to fund the construction of 20 day care centers and 54 school buildings in the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, and Negros Occidental.

AusAID provides grants for the construction of classrooms, school buildings and day care centers which is considered as the supply side of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) for non-prioritized communities during the implementation of the Makamasang Tugon and other modes of Kalahi-CIDSS implementation.

The Philippine government received a total grant of $10.0 million from AusAID for the construction of day care centers and school buildings nationwide. (Maricar M. Calubiran/Kalahi-CIDSS-DSWD)