Fourth project planning meeting held in Tagaytay 12-13 October 2015

Post date: Nov 25, 2015 10:29:50 PM

A review and planning meeting was held on October 12 and 13 in Tagaytay, Philippines, and was attended by all 15 personnel actively involved in the project. Key issues emerging from the meeting include:

• 1. Progress at the three core study sites during the period March to September 2015 continued to be impressive. Of particular note were the significant strengthening of farmer groups through leadership training, commencement of a process to achieve accreditation and registration of farmer groups with the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE); development of a strong partnership with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) on the delivery of livelihood inputs and services to farmer groups; and the significant increase in diversity of farmer training and livelihood development activities being undertaken across the sites.

  2. At the three new study sites identified at the March 2015 meeting, the prototype extension model developed by the project was successfully applied and rolled out without problems.    

  3. Some concern was expressed about the continued use of the term “conflict-affected” in relation to project sites. This is particularly the case in the Koronadal City (South Cotabato) sites, where the situation is currently relatively peaceful and the LGUs are sensitive to external perceptions about the issue of conflict. The meeting accepted this concern and decided that in all future communication related to the project, sites would instead be referred to as “conflict-vulnerable”.

  4. Agreement was reached on the production of seven new working papers to capture research outputs and progress. When completed this will take the number of working papers produced by the project to over 20. In addition, three future working paper research topics were identified for conceptualisation.

  5. In relation to project communications, the first four-page Project Update to promote the projects’ achievements to partner agencies and potential developers was tabled and approved. A program was also put in place to update partner LGUs at the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) (or BLGU council) level. The value of technical collaboration between AMAEP project personnel and those of the ACIAR ICM and Value Chain Projects was widely recognised and acknowledged. An update of the project’s communication strategy is proceeding.

  6. A draft scaling up strategy for the final two years of the project was developed. This proposes an initial emphasis on local scaling out through existing partners and programs. In the meantime, input from the Project Advisory Group is being sought both to help frame the local scaling out program, and to provide advice on longer-term scaling up strategies through their agency programs and networks.

  7. The program for the visit to Australia by Assoc Professor Shang Fuentes from UP Mindanao under an ACIAR training contract (Contract C-2014-411) was finalised. Her visit will take place from October 31 to November 18, 2015 and will include discussions with research personnel from RMIT and Deakin Universities in Melbourne, interaction with social research and community development agencies in western Victoria, a visit to Australian Landcare International in Melbourne, collaborative work on project working papers with Australian project personnel, and a visit to ACIAR HQ, Canberra.

  8. The next semi-annual review and planning meeting for the project was scheduled for February 2016.

  9. More information on the project is available on the project website (https://sites.google.com/site/improvedextensionproject/)