WESTERN VISAYAS, November 23, 2023 – To assess effectiveness and facilitate improvements of program implementation in areas of Western Visayas where the Department of Agriculture – Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) operates, using the associated metrics to evaluate actions and performances, a successive semestral reviews across all target municipalities in the region was conducted.

The purpose of the activity which ran from September 17 to 27, 2023 was mainly for presentation of accomplishments for the first semester, provide status of project implementation, and discuss issues and concerns on the field – this time, not just the program implementers and stakeholders but the beneficiaries were involved in the process. With this farmer-oriented assessment, dialogue with the farmers for first-hand information was carried through, involving them in steering individual project operation performance, and creating that sense of ownership among them.

The first day kicked off with the presentation of SAAD briefer, introducing the program’s four (4) core components and articulating the goals and the set of outcomes or metrics to measure the success of the program. A list of project interventions targeted for each FA was also shown to track the remaining deliverables of the management.

Additionally, the event in partnership with the Local Government Units (LGUs) counterparts, which was participated by officials and/or representatives of 34 FAs (Table 1), also discussed and planned out possible livelihood support commodities for the next implementing year. The additional needs that emerged from the conversation will be taken into account for inclusion in FY 2024.

Table 1. Semestral Assessment conducted in Region 6

(The residents of Batad can strive to provide food for their families, but we are still grateful for the help the national government has extended. That’s why, we should consider this as an opportunity that we should care for and use this as leverage so we could gradually step up from poverty.)

The beneficiaries likewise underwent a workshop on crafting their project status report, sustainability plan, and their project policies. Each FA then presented their output for critiquing, and was mentored by technical staff from the region. A field monitoring activity was also done to validate the status of the project reported by each group.

At the end of the activity, the proposed interventions of the FAs for next year were consolidated, project policies were finalized, and the management’s schedule of remaining deliverables were presented, as well as the agreements made during the discourse.

As a result of the overall assessment, SAAD Western Visayas accomplished its targeted 34 livelihood projects to be distributed to 34 FAs across the region. This contributed to the regional accomplishment of 70.26% obligation and 51.82% disbursement rates attained during the first semester of FY 2023. On the other hand, as they are involved in the evaluation process, the project recipients from nine priority towns have already planted their crops ranging from corn to high-value, while others also started operating on their poultry projects. ###

Writer: Cedie C. Bataga, DA-SAAD Western Visayas Information Officer
Source: Michael Deve Perez, DA-SAAD Western Visayas Associate Project Officer