Negrense volunteer elected to US funding agency board

Forty-eight stakeholders, community leaders, members of the non-government, civil society organizations and private sectors from all over the country recently gathered to elect their representative to the Millennium Challenge Account Philippines (MCA-P) Board of Trustees.

MCA-P is the office that handles the funds of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a funding agency created by the US Congress that is currently funding the implementation of Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan–Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas.

The newly-elected representative is Alfredo Lera Jr., a Kalahi-CIDSS community volunteer from barangay Tabon, Vallehermoso, Negros Oriental.

As a representative of the stakeholders, Lera is now a voting-member of the MCA-P Board of Trustees which is composed of Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman, Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson and MCC Resident Country Director Mathew Bohn.

DSWD Regional Director Mercedita Jabagat said, “We are honored and very happy that the stakeholders have chosen someone from the region to represent their voice. We wish that Lera will continue to inspire other community volunteers to empower themselves and drive the development process in their respective community,” she said.

Lera is also assigned as the head of the Committee on Audit. He monitors the Kalahi-CIDSS areas in Negros Oriental and other MCC-funded project areas in the country and provides input to the body.

The Community-Driven Development (CDD) technology of Kalahi-CIDSS has proven to be effective in addressing community needs and empowering communities that the present administration upgraded it into a national program called the National Community-Driven Development Program (NCDDP) which will be launched nationwide soon.

In Central Visayas, NCDDP will cover the provinces of Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.