Davao City — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional office announced Monday the implementation of a community-driven development program aimed at reducing poverty and upgrading basic services in three Davao provinces.

Regional officials presented the KALAHI-CIDSS KKB (Kapangyarihan at Kaunlaran sa Barangay) program and the initiative is a specialized track under the agency’s broader community-development framework that focuses on village-level empowerment.

Jaiza Arcilla, a project development officer for DSWD Region 11, said the program encourages residents to actively participate in local governance and community development.

“The main goal of the KKB modality is to empower local communities to address poverty by identifying, planning, implementing, and improving their access to basic services and good governance of their own development projects through the community-driven development framework,” Arcilla said.

The program targets areas with high poverty rates, focusing on vulnerable and marginalized households. To qualify, municipalities must have prior experience with the KALAHI-CIDSS framework but are not currently part of the ongoing Philippine Cold Chain Project.

For 2026, the agency identified three municipalities for the program: Magsaysay in Davao del Sur, Talaingod in Davao del Norte and Boston in Davao Oriental.

Nine priority projects are scheduled for construction across the three towns. These include community access roads and a drainage canal in Magsaysay; an early childhood development center and a multipurpose building in Boston; and multipurpose pavements and a community activity center in Talaingod.

“The communities are involved in the overall implementation from planning, decision-making, construction, and monitoring,” Arcilla said, noting that the program organizes and trains local community volunteers to manage the projects.