WB lauds NorthCot MRDP rural women beneficiaries

The enterprising rural women of Libungan, North Cotabato have impressed high ranking World Bank officials.
World Bank (WB) sector director for East Asia Sustainable Development Department John Roome and new WB country director Motoo Konishi visited Libungan which has been successful in sustaining its livelihood projects under the Department of Agriculture’s Mindanao Rural Development program (DA-MRDP).
MRDP is a long term poverty-alleviation initiative implemented under DA with funding source from the WB, the national government and equity share of the enrolled LGU.
Roome said the success of the municipal government and the community could be the basis for societal change.
“What you have done here is similar to that of some women groups in India where the growth of their livestock project had become the basis of the change of living condition in their community. We are hopeful, it would be the same among the communities here,” Roome said.
Roome added that the bank is grateful to note that it continues to be part of helping poor communities in this part of the country.
Libungan town has been an MRPD beneficiary since the first phase in 1999 when they proposed livestock dispersal, agroforestry, integrated farming and poultry projects among the five poorest barangays.
Now on the second phase, MRDP and the LGU continue to reach more communities completing to cover all 20 barangays of the town providing agri-based livelihood opportunities to people’s organizations (PO) through the program’s Community Fund for Agriculture Development (CFAD) component.
During the first phase, the LGU introduced an innovative cost-recovery program where the PO beneficiaries were asked to pay the initial investment to establish a trust fund to assist new POs and expand the existing ones.
The program has brought more benefits, including the formation of a PO consortium at the baragnay level and Consortium Federation at the municipal level which ventured to further ventures to both on-farm and off-farm investments.
The WB eight-man team visited the Sinawingan MRDP-CFAD PO’s Consortium which to date has a total assets and stocks worth P1,038,000 from their initial investment of about P500,000 from the original nine PO.
Moreover, the 12 heads of cattle released to them in March 2010 as part of their MRDP2 project is now 22 heads expected to be dispersed to more beneficiaries.
MRDP director Lealyn A. Ramos said the POs in Libungan are among the more empowered groups around Mindanao, particularly in terms of sustaining their livelihood activities.
“We have been highlighting the achievement of the LGU in Libungan since they provide a human face on how the program sustains itself,” Ramos said.
“Other LGUs have also visited the town to study its strategy in sustaining livelihood projects,” she added.
These included officials and PO members from as far as Compostela Valley province, a number of towns in nearby South and North Cotabato provinces and the ARMM.
The WB team is circuiting various WB-funded projects in Mindanao as part of the first official travel of the new country director Konishi.
The team includes sustainable development leader in the Philippines Mark Woodward, MRDP Task team leader Felizardo K Virtucio, social development unit officers Matthew Stephens and Roberto Tordecilla, external affairs officer David Llorito and infrastructure unit officer Nora Moreno. [Sherwin B. Manual/DA-MRDP]