PIA Press Release
Saturday, January 14, 2012

CBMEG helps ensure DA-MRDP Projects sustainable

BUTUAN CITY, Jan. 14 (PIA) -- “Monitoring is vital for the sustainability of a project.”

Mayor Leo Navarro of Marihatag, Surigao del Sur said this during the Community Based Monitoring and Evaluation Group Training of the Department of Agriculture -Mindanao Rural Development Program (DA-MRDP) held recently in the said town.

He said that in the past, numerous projects from the government, after it has been transferred to the recipients just die down due to different contributing factors.

“Daghan mga proyekto nga dili mulahutay, lain-lain ang mga rason pero kung atong iksamenon ug maayo, kulang sa monitoring ang nag-unang rason (Various projects will not sustain due to different reasons but if we look at it closer, lack of monitoring is the very first reason)," he said.

Navarro lauded MRDP in coming up with a scheme that gives monitoring and evaluation a priority.

To ensure sustainability, the Natural Resource Management; Monitoring and Evaluation and Info-Ace components of MRDP from Program Support Office in Davao City and Regional Program Coordinating Office (RPCO) based in the Regional Office of the Department of Agriculture in Butuan City jointly conducted the CBMEG training.

Participants of the training were the chairmen and members of different peoples’ organizations and their respective barangay officials and counterparts from Marihatag LGU.

CBMEG is a body to be created through a barangay ordinance and has been tasked to monitor and evaluate MRDP projects within its community and submit monitoring and evaluation reports to the municipal level for proper action if deemed necessary in case of eventualities on the projects.

Marihatag is a recipient of Global Equity Fund (GEF) with particular subprojects called On the Ground Investments (OGI) such as river bank stabilization, agroforestry and its livelihood component called Sustainable Income Generating Activities (SIGA). It is also a recipient of Community Fund for Agricultural Development (CFAD) and Rural Infrastructure (RI).

RPCO focal person Eliseo Tila revealed that Marihatag is one of most active MRDP-LGUs enrolled in terms of project implementation performance. (RAFID DA-Caraga/PIA-Caraga)