Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rex Gatchalian and Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. led the awarding of Barangay Development Planning national trainers on Thursday in Quezon City.

A total of 127 trainers from all regions of the country received their certificates after completing the requirements of the National Training of Trainers for BDP, which was conducted with the help of the Local Government Academy.

In his speech, Gatchalian said the BDP training is vital in strengthening the people's participation in local governance.

"Part of the initiative of the DSWD for the longest time is community-driven development or CDD. It is when we empower local government units, all the way to the barangay, sitio level, or community level to decide for their own," Gatchalian said.

"The more the world evolves, the greater the community participation becomes, and we have to capture that in these development plans," the DSWD chief added.

Gatchalian thanked the DILG for their support.

"Naniniwala kami na with DILG backing this program, more and more local government units, all the way to the barangays, will embrace the participatory and consultative way of doing things," he said.

In his message of support, Abalos expressed his commitment to help advocate for the CDD approach as "the DILG and the DSWD will be one serving our people on the ground."

The BDP is a mechanism to ensure that barangay projects are inclusive and responsive to the needs of the people. It mirrors the principles of the community-driven development approach, which is the foundation of the DSWD's Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services program.

Aside from the BDP national trainers, the KALAHI-CIDSS program also trained 2,605 regional trainers who will help advocate for the institutionalization and application of CDD in local governance processes.

The CDD is an empowering approach that grants communities control over development, including decision-making, and resource management that promotes participation.