Soliman renews anti-poverty backing from Millennium Challenge Corp.
Secretary Soliman and MCC CEO Dana Hyde meeting in Washington, DC to firm up ties. PH EMBASSY PHOTO
WASHINGTON, DC — The Philippines’ social welfare and development secretary and the CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corp. headquartered here met May 14 to reaffirm their “strong partnership.”
Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and MCC Chief Executive Officer Dana Hyde met, with Soliman praising their partnership for contributing to and strengthening the country’s democratization process.
Hyde, in turn, affirmed that MCC was “proud of the partnership,” acknowledging the “hard work” of the DSWD to sustain the MCC projects through the Millennium Challenge Account-Philippine Compact. She also said she may visit the Philippines before the end of the year.
Soliman lauded MCC’s support for the Philippine Government’s community driven-development (CDD) approach in order to “empower” ordinary citizens to actively and directly participate in local governance.
MCC’s support for the KALAHI-CIDDS (Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services), Soliman said, was one of the three core social protection programs of DSWD in alleviating poverty.
Signed on September 23, 2010 in New York City and made operative on May 25, 2011, the $434 million First Philippine Compact is aimed at allowing poor communities to do the following: develop small-scale projects and manage assets sustainably; spur increased commerce by reducing transportation costs; increase the efficiency and sustainability of revenue collection through the redesign and computerization of business processes.
The Compact is seen as a symbol of the strong bilateral ties between with the Philippines and the United States.
The current five-year compact is due to end soon, and the Philippines is now working with MCC in preparing for a second compact. The MCC approved the selection of the Philippines as a country eligible for a second compact last December 2014.
Soliman also had several meetings with other MCC officials to discuss the implementation of the KALAHI-CIDSS, at the end of her four-day visit to Washington, DC from May 11 to 14.
Her visit included activities/meetings with World Bank officials led by President Jim Yong Kim and participation in the Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA) Forum in which she received the GPSA Award for Leadership in Social Accountability.
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