Good afternoon to everyone!

First, I would like to congratulate everyone for another year of empowering communities by creating a stimulating environment for active citizenship, poverty reduction, and economic development.  Through PODER, we are able to ensure that the poorest communities, specifically in Regions III, V and CARAGA, are given the opportunity to acquire new skills and be part of the process of counteracting poverty.

In line with this momentous occasion, I would like to thank the Spanish government, represented by Mr. Vicente Selles Zaragosi, and my colleagues from the DSWD, for constantly working towards crafting programs like PODER, which guarantees concrete change in the lives of poor and vulnerable Filipinos. The success of this partnership is what we acknowledge today, and the efforts of the people behind this project, particularly our partners from LGUs deserve to be recognized as well.

By now, we know that Community Driven Development (CDD) serves as one of the three legs of the DSWD’s convergence framework together with the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and sustainable livelihood. Community Driven Development has been an effective poverty reduction strategy that has worked well in Asia and Africa.

CDD has led to the empowerment of communities by giving them more resources and guiding them to maximize use of the resources in order to improve their lives and that of their communities as well. We have seen this first-hand with our volunteers for PODER as they learned about problem identification and formulation of responsive interventions executed through coherent project proposals and eventually project implementation.

Undeniably, Community Driven Development promote participatory planning and development management particularly by strengthening local formal and informal institutions into  designing methods that are both inclusive and transparent, especially in identifying projects that best fit their needs and that of their communities.

Through projects such as PODER, it can be guaranteed that a community has better access to services such as health and education, particularly if these are also areas of Pantawid Pamilya as in the case Region V and CARAGA, which has the most number of Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries. CDD, through PODER and KALAHI CIDSS ensures that we are able to address supply side gaps by strengthening coordination with the LGUs to build more classrooms, day care centers, and health facilities.

Transparency and accountability are also maintained for community driven development projects such as PODER and KALAHI CIDSS because the community leaders, in cooperation with LGUs and civil society groups, work together to monitor the program. At present, we have completed 112 sub-projects for PODER 3 and 96 sub-projects for PODER 6 and we have also submitted the concept note for PODER 7, we hope it will materialize as well so that we can reach more communities and bring change closer to people.

Finally, I want to commend the fact that community driven development projects like PODER fosters an atmosphere for active citizenship. Active citizenship comes naturally in CDD projects because communities are already geographic entities made to develop common goals and interests—which in our case is to reduce poverty and improve quality of life.

CDD creates active citizens who take part in shaping policies that impact their lives and who demand accountability from entities tasked to protect public good.  Programs like KALAHI CIDSS and PODER, harness considerable social capital at the community level and encourages vital elements of active citizenship such as self-awareness and self-confidence on the part of the people. CDD makes the people realize that they are not only recipients of program benefits but are part of every step in the process, from conceptualization, implementation, up to monitoring and evaluation.

In conclusion, I would like to stress that the government cannot undergo all of its poverty reduction and social protection initiatives alone.  It needs the support and commitment of the people—which is what CDD gives and promotes. This is already a good start and I hope we will have more and more years of empowering communities towards growth and development.

Thank you very much at Mabuhay tayong Lahat!

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Speech delivered by Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman during PODER Year-End Activity held at the Crowne Plaza Galleria in Manila on April 25, 2011.