Published by the Asian Development Bank, the report, The KALAHI-CIDSS Project in the Philippines: Sharing Knowledge on Community Driven Development documents both the improvement of service delivery and the governance in beneficiary communities as a result of community driven development practices. The assessment was conducted in three municipalities and nine villages in these municipalities. The assessment focuses on the impact of community participation, subproject utility, sustainability, accountability and transparency, and institutional impacts. The data is derived from a survey of 180 residents in 6 villages and focus group discussions with local government officials, community volunteers, and KALAHI-CIDSS (Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services) staff (xii).
In terms of community participation, the assessment concluded that the municipal inter-barangay forum is an effective method for subproject selection. Women are involved in the implementation step. Despite barriers poor households face, poorest community members are strongly involved and are very articulate during the village assemblies. Successful adjustments were made in order to meet the norms of indigenous tribes. The key social actors in the subproject selection consisted of: village captains, village officials, mayors, community residents, and community volunteers. Competition among villages has both positive and negative consequences. Competition both increases participation and frustration for subprojects that are not chosen.
The utility and sustainability of projects are beneficial in terms of transportation and access to goods and services. Reasons on how subprojects could increase household incomes for improving the water system, road, and school are provided (27). Operation and maintenance reports provide an area for improvement.
Accountability and transparency at the village level show very positive results with community residents feeling the there is relatively free corruption because complaints are resolved locally. Corruption can be reduced through the high level of community driven development.
The institutional impact at the village level uncovers that dependence on external resources will remain. Limitations include turnover of local chief executives. Major challenges include bureaucratic capture and scaling up due to longer-term funding and lack of bottom-up planning.
The report also covers the main principles and ethical framework of KALAHI-CIDSS (2) as well as the eligibility screening tools to pick municipalities for implementation of community driven development (9) and framework for the assessment (14). Overall, the report concludes that community driven development creates an effective platform for integrating and coordinating key components of an effective poverty reduction strategy (42). I found this report to be very detailed and analytical.
Gonzalez, R. (2012).The KALAHI-CIDSS Project in the Philippines: Sharing Knowledge on Community-Driven Development. Asian Development Bank.Retrieved from http://www.adb.org/publications/kalahi-cidss-project-philippines