Fifth Project planning meeting held in Davao February 2016

Post date: Mar 17, 2016 3:12:48 PM

Apart from engaging with all project participants in a semi-annual project review and planning meeting, an additional objective was to hold (under the auspices of ACIAR) a mid-term project review.

The two meetings were held in Davao, Philippines, and attended by 15 personnel actively involved in the project. Three special guests from agencies involved in the project attended to provide input to the Mid-Term Review component of the program.

Key issues emerging from the team review and planning meeting were:

The draft scaling up strategy for the final two years of the project, developed at the last meeting in October 2015, was presented during December and January to the Project Advisory Group and key institutional partners for feedback. The consultation identified four priority institutions for further collaboration in scaling up, as well as a number of useful recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of the process.

Progress at the three core study sites during the period October 2015 to February 2016 continued to be impressive. Of particular note were:

• • The ongoing success of the Ole-clofe B’laan Landcare Association (OBLA) in the South Cotabato site, which has prompted the team to detail it as a case study of the rapid and beneficial changes possible in farmer groups as a result of the application of the extension model;

  • The encouraging level of sharing and interaction between the Christian and Tribal (IP) farmer groups in the Maguindanao site, which is positively reducing tension and potential conflict; and

  • The deployment of a network of 10 local farmer crop technicians to provide more regular on-the-spot monitoring of farmer progress in the Katipunan (Zamboanga Sibugay) site.

At the three new study sites initiated in March 2015, the roll out of the extension model continued with immediate success. Of particular note were:

• • The immediate impact of a ‘seeing is believing’ inspirational cross visit of Salman (Maguindanao) farmers to the Koronadal City Ole-clofe project site, which resulted in the rapid and successful uptake of vegetable production by 25 farmers to supplement their previous corn monocropping system;

  • Provision of numerous training events, many provided collaboratively with LGU technicians; and

  • Involvement of staff and students of Kings College of Marbel Inc in training on the conduct of field research as a forerunner of them being involved in research on the professional development of technicians.

Agreement was reached on the production of six new working papers to capture research outputs and progress. These are proposed for completion by the next review meeting in September 2016. This will take the number of working papers produced by the project to 25. In addition, each of the six Facilitators identified an area of research and documentation in which they had a personal interest, and which they would progress to a working paper as part of their performance planning and review process over the next nine months.

In relation to project communications, the meeting resolved to review a number of communication processes to ensure improved effectiveness and value for money. Key areas for review include the Project Update, the potential use of short video clips, site signboards and the communications plan. In addition, the concept of a larger regional project ‘showcase’ has been revised to a series of smaller site-specific showcases that are more relevant to the needs of local scaling up partners.

An update on security issues was provided. As the overall situation remained relatively unchanged from the previous meeting, no changes to security were proposed.

The next semi-annual review and planning meeting for the project was scheduled for the second week of September 2016 (week commencing September 12).