Eden Bayeta, a mother and daycare worker from Barangay Liboro in Ragay, Camarines Sur, shared her motivation for community involvement: "I see that the children are happy with the (classroom) funded by KALAHI-CIDSS. They don’t have to suffer in school, and I took that as an inspiration…because I am a daycare worker and my heart is for the children, which is why I am constantly pursuing volunteer opportunities.” Bayeta began volunteering with Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan–Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) in 2010 and continued her service under the World Bank-financed National Community-Driven Development Program (NCDDP).
The Philippines has experienced steady economic growth except during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, inequality remains high across regions, with persistent poverty due to factors such as inefficient service delivery, geographic isolation, disaster vulnerabilities, low social protection spending, poor targeting of anti-poverty programs, and weak governance.
The National Community Driven Development Project was designed to empower poor municipalities by improving access to basic services through a community-driven development approach. This method emphasizes local participation in planning and implementation. Kalahi-CIDSS was initiated by the Department of Social Welfare and Development in 2003 across 300 municipalities and expanded through NCDDP in 2014 to cover 847 municipalities nationwide. The project also introduced a Disaster Response Operations Modality (DROM) after Typhoon Haiyan to help affected areas rebuild essential services.
Since 2015, Kalahi-CIDSS has financed over 54,800 subprojects benefiting approximately 17.5 million households throughout the country. These initiatives include infrastructure such as village roads and utilities that have improved conditions for about 1.5 million Indigenous households. Over 2.45 million community volunteers participated—63% of whom were women.
A December 2024 evaluation showed significant progress: there was an average increase of 68% in access to essential infrastructure across all subproject types. Marginalized groups achieved an average participation rate of 67%, surpassing targets.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, DSWD used DROM to enable barangays to address urgent health needs quickly. By year-end, KC-NCDDP had supported nearly 2,400 community sub-projects related to pandemic response across more than two thousand barangays in over one hundred municipalities—benefiting around 630,884 households—and provided temporary jobs for more than 38,000 people.
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), part of the World Bank Group—which provides financing and advisory services globally according to its official website—approved $479 million for this initiative in February 2014 with additional funding approved later. The Asian Development Bank and Millennium Challenge Corporation also contributed parallel financing.
Looking forward, support has been approved for Pagkilos – Locally-Led Climate Action—a new project using lessons from NCDDP—to strengthen local climate change planning capacity through participatory approaches while channeling funds directly into communities for climate resilience investments.
The World Bank operates worldwide including Asia Pacific countries like the Philippines (official website), working with governments and partners such as multilateral institutions (official website) on efforts focused on reducing poverty through inclusive development (official website). The organization’s headquarters are located at H Street NW in Washington D.C., United States (official website).
"I see that the children are happy with the (classroom) funded by KALAHI-CIDSS. They don’t have to suffer in school, and I took that as an inspiration…because I am a daycare worker and my heart is for the children, which is why I am constantly pursuing volunteer opportunities,” said Eden Bayeta.