women beneficiaries actively participated during the project identification workshop
CENTRAL VISAYAS. A simultaneous Participatory Planning Workshop conducted in the six (6) municipalities of Siquijor and six (6) municipalities of Negros Oriental for the “Increasing Agricultural Productivity towards Food Security and Poverty Alleviation: Extension Support to the Twenty Two Provinces with High Poverty Incidence in the Philippines” also dubbed as ATI TIER 2 Program last July 3-7, 2017 and July 18-21, 2017 respectively.
The workshop was actively participated by the different sectorial groups namely Municipal Planning and Development Coordinators (MPDC), Municipal Agriculture and Fisheries Council Coordinators (MAFC), Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO) Staff, Agriculture Committee Chair of Sangguniang Barangay, Farmers and/or Fishers Association Leader, Women and/or RIC Leaders, Youth Representatives, and 16 Target Household Beneficiaries of the barangay.
The workshop is an essential step to ensure sustainable livelihood programs and employed participatory approach promoting beneficiaries’ participation in the activities. Participants were able to assess their respective communities though the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis as basis for the identification and prioritization of the potential livelihood projects through dots ranking. Action plans formulated by the participants for the top three (3) livelihood projects were identified.
During the discussions, majority of the participants expressed their great expectation for the genuine implementation of the livelihood projects that they identified. In addition, they also expressed that these projects will contribute to their income.
The Tier 2 Program implemented in the 22 provinces in the Philippines which aims to increase the agricultural productivity for food security and poverty alleviation of the country. In Central Visayas, provinces of Negros Oriental which include the municipalities of Amlan, Bacong, Dauin, Jimalalud, San Jose and Zamboanguita while municipalities of Enrique Villanueva, Larena, Lazi, Maria, San Juan and Siquijor for the province of Siquijor were identified as municipal recipients of the said program.