ISTR Sixth International Conference Toronto, Canada / July 11-14, 2004 Contesting Citizenship and Civil Society in a Divided World

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Peoples' Organizations Interfce in Poverty Alleviation Program: The Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (CIDSS): An Abstract
by
Lilibeth Jovita Juan
Center for Leadership, Citizenship and Democracy, National College of Public Administration, University of the Philippines
Coauthors: Napoleon Allan Prieto

The Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (CIDSS) centers its strategies on the interface of various sectors who actively participate in planning, implementation and monitoring of CIDSS services. The different sectoral representatives or people’s organizations (POs) interface with government to enable them to take part in identifying the solutions to their local problems. Here, the POs serve as partners and collaborators in development programs.

The CIDSS program started in 1999 in the Province of Bataan, located north of Manila in the island of Luzon. The targets were depressed areas in the fifth and sixth class municipalities (1) where high poverty incidence and unemployment rate are prevalent. Severe malnutrition problem is also starkly observed and pockets of poor families can be seen amidst the comfortable villages. The interface experience of one of these communities will evolve in this case study. The community in Barangay(2) St. Rosa lies adjacent to the town proper which makes it a favorite settling ground for migrants from other provinces.

Majority of the POs who actively interfaced with government are women, farmers and senior citizens, and youth . Purok organizations are likewise organized. The selection of respected and committed PO leaders and the social preparation undertaken prior to adoption of CIDSS paved the way for the smooth program implementation and in addressing unmet needs. The feedback mechanisms of regular recording and reporting also ensured accountability of POs.

The innovative strategies utilized in the CIDSS and the convergence approach gave way to the creation of the interagency committee in each local government level that opened a venue where government and POs can join together in identifying local problems, in planning and deciding how and when to address them. A set of common indicators in MBN were used to gather baseline information from the community such as their lack of the following: survival needs ( health, food and nutrition, water . This information served as basis for planning to address their problems and in assessing the level of improvement in the lives of beneficiaries who received the assistance. The poor community benefited from the package of services that included livelihood, child education and adult literacy, potable water and sanitation and maternal and child health services.

The CIDSS Worker is a significant support in the CIDSS program as she organized and mobilized the community and motivated the creation of PO structures. The PO-GO partnership led to productive outputs, honed the problem solving skills of POs as they actively performed key roles in addressing their problems and identifying corresponding solutions that directly affected them, hence, enabling them to be empowered and achieve self reliance.

POs consider their contribution in the interface significant in pushing for a better quality of life for their own sector and for creating a more desirable and enabling environment for the whole community. The PO leaders believe that the experience in the interface had allowed them to be transformed intellectually, emotionally and behaviorally. They developed self-confidence and discipline, and has prepared them for the bigger task for the future. However, despite their enhanced capacities, they believe they need each other to achieve their common goals.

Sustaining the projects after the CIDSS is something that they believe they have to seriously deal with themselves. It is necessary for them to establish their credibility as a responsible and dependable team player in the interface.

Remarkably, POs learned valuable lessons from the interface. The new skills transformed them from passive observers to informed citizens. However, they have yet to strengthen their mutual trust and maintain openness between and among them.

The collaborative engagement was enlightening and fruitful for the PO leaders who had the opportunity to express their interests, exercise their rights as well as perform their responsibilities as citizens in alleviating their plight. On the other, it was a welcome treat to the barangay officials as they appreciated the assistance from PO leaders in making public service a shared responsibility, requiring them to be accountable, thus, promote good governance.

Notes: (1) The local government units or political subdivisions in the Philippines are categorized into six categories based on income. The fifth and sixth class municipalities belong to the lower income category which means that majority of the poor reside here.

(2) Barangay is the basic political unit which serves as the primary planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans and programs.

Date received: September 25, 2003

Copyright © 2003 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # camk-00.