MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) are training IP leaders in how to protect their rights and prepare for active involvement in the decision-making process for local development.
The DSWD and NCIP oriented IP leaders over the weekend on the soon to be launched National Community-Driven Development Project (NCDDP).
The NCDDP is the scaling up of the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS), one of the national government’s flagship poverty alleviation programs being implemented through the DSWD.
The 10-year implementation of Kalahi-CIDSS has drawn high attendance and participation of IPs in the project’s community activities, according to the DSWD.
Inclusion, participation
As a community-driven development (CDD) program, one of the main areas of focus of the NCDDP is the empowerment of ordinary citizens through inclusion and active participation in local governance and key community activities meant to address local poverty issues.
The approach ensures the inclusion of IPs and other vulnerable sectors in community decision-making.
The IP leaders who attended the national orientation were the head claimants of the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) in NCDDP municipalities from the seven ethnographic regions.
These are: Region CAR and I, CAR II, CAR III and the Rest of Luzon, Region Island Groups and the Rest of Visayas Region, Central Mindanao, Region Northern and Western Mindanao, and Region South and Eastern Mindanao.
The orientation also focused on key issues that may affect the design and implementation of the NCDDP, such as culture, ancestral domain and human rights.
Likewise, it provided information on the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s legal instruments that are relevant to IP-related concerns, particularly those that protect and promote IP rights over their ancestral domain and in their participation in Local Planning Processes.