New Davao Project to Strengthen Community Disaster Resilience Over Five Years

DAVAO CITY (February 3) — A new five-year program aimed at helping vulnerable communities withstand disasters, climate risks, and economic shocks will be rolled out in the Davao Region starting June, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) announced.

The Philippine Community Resilience Project (PCRP) seeks to strengthen how poor and disaster-prone communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from calamities—shifting the focus from short-term relief to long-term resilience.

Giovani Yugo, DSWD-11 deputy regional manager for Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan–Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS), said the project builds on more than 20 years of community-driven development experience.

“From the pandemic to repeated disasters, we have clearly seen the vulnerabilities of our communities,” Yugo said during a press briefing. “This project responds directly to those lessons.”

PCRP will be implemented in 11 municipalities across the Davao Region, prioritizing areas exposed to flooding, landslides, and climate-related disruptions. The program emphasizes participatory resilience planning, allowing communities themselves to identify risks and decide on investments needed to reduce future losses.

Indicative funding allocations range from ₱50 million for first- to third-class municipalities to ₱70 million for fourth- to sixth-class municipalities, with local government units required to provide counterpart funding. These investments are expected to support small-scale but critical infrastructure, preparedness measures, and livelihood protection initiatives identified by residents.

DSWD officials said the community-led approach is designed to ensure that projects—such as evacuation facilities, access roads, water systems, or livelihood safeguards—reflect actual local needs rather than top-down planning.

Yugo added that PCRP supports the national goal of building a prosperous, inclusive, and resilient society, particularly as climate-related disasters become more frequent and severe.

For communities that have repeatedly relied on emergency assistance after calamities, officials said the project aims to break the cycle by strengthening local capacity before disasters strike—reducing losses, protecting livelihoods, and speeding up recovery.