BUTUAN CITY, June 3, 2022 – To improve the competencies of staff in community organizing and needs assessment, 14 regional and provincial staff of the DA Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) Program underwent a refresher course training on May 30-31 in Dottie’s Place Hotel, Butuan City, Agusan del Norte.

Community organizing is central to the groundwork of the SAAD Program. It is among the recurring field activities under the Social Preparation component to address the needs of the farmers.

The training organized by the regional office, reintroduced the basic concepts of organizing communities and various tools for assessing their needs. Planning and budgeting for a livelihood project was also tackled as SAAD heads towards community based enterprise establishment.

Resource person Ms. Marisol D. Tuso, a development communication practitioner and an instructional system specialist, emphasized the goal of effective community organizing, which is to assist the farmers in empowerment, to overcome various endeavors, which includes managing the project, and the organization.

“As community organizers, we have to remember that the farmers are our partners for development and not just mere recipients of government interventions. We can do this by helping them realize that we have a shared goal,” she added.

Ms. Tuso highlighted that the center of the development are the farmers’ as partners of the program. This way, the community members’ agency is fostered as well as grassroots-led development is fostered.

In her welcome message, Regional Technical Director Rebecca Atega encouraged the SAAD staff to internalize the fundamentals of community organizing.

“May this refresher course help us, the program, in improving our field processes. With this, I encourage you all to truly internalize, by heart, the importance of community organizing and assessing the needs of our clientele so that we can better serve them,” said Regional Technical Director Atega.

Five area coordinators of the program underwent similar training in 2018. Aligned with the OneDA Reform Agenda, the training is among the continuous efforts of the DA to further hone the technical skills of its personnel. By capacitating them, farmers will effectively contribute to transforming the agriculture sector in their communities. ###

Writer: Mark Angelo C. Pineda, Information Officer, DA-SAAD Caraga