BUTUAN CITY, February 1, 2023 – To enrich staff and partners’ planning and technical writing skills and develop project proposals appropriate and responsive to recipients’ needs, the Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) Caraga conducted Project Proposal Workshop on January 20, 2023, at VCDU Prince Convention Center, Butuan City. 

Marisol Tuso, an Institution Development Specialist who served as the resource person for the training, emphasized the importance of a well-written project proposal as any project’s blueprint for success. It outlines steps for any undertaking to move from the ideation stage to reality. 

Participated by 21 technical staff in a hybrid learning setup, the workshop tackled basic steps in preparing a project proposal and introduced two (2) complementary tools to project planning.

As explained by Ms. Tuso, Project Criteria & Selection Tool identifies which project or commodity best fits the target clientele and their environment. Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool, on the other hand, is a 109-point questionnaire that classifies whether a people’s organization is ready to engage in enterprising activity, hence qualified for funding support. 

Tuso encouraged the staff to consider using the tools to plan and implement projects that are appropriate and responsive to the needs of the recipients. Further, she elaborated that a crucial part of the success of projects is the knowledge about the people’s organization’s capacity and their environment as outputs of the tools.

As part of the hands-on exercise, implementers of SAAD Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Norte, and Dinagat Islands revisited their FY 2023 implementation plans as basis for drafting a sample project proposal. These drafts will be developed into full-blown proposals to be submitted to the Regional Program Management Support Office in February 2023.

This year, SAAD Caraga will provide projects to 28 farmers’ associations within 14 priority municipalities covered. 

Introduction to Phase 2 LGUs

The activity also served as an avenue to formally introduce the Program staff to representatives from Municipal Agriculture Offices present. The Regional Office also presented the list of livelihood projects that ranges from (a) crop production: abaca, banana, cacao, and pineapple, and (b) livestock and poultry production: goat and white leghorn. 

In his closing message, Rey U Frias, Chief of the DA-Agricultural Program Coordinating Office in Dinagat Islands, encouraged the team to reflect on experiences during SAAD Phase 1 implementation and use these as a basis for improvement.###

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