PROJECT description

   The “Programa de apoyo a la agricultura, medio ambiente el sector social en la Region de Bicol” (Agriculture, Social Support, and Environment Facilities- ASSEF Project) comprises micro-projects designed  to increase agricultural productivity and income of farmers and fishermen in Bicol Region. The project intends also to develop the capabilities o\f the local government units (LGUs) in project development. The long term objective of the project is to contribute to the alleviation of poverty in Bicol (being the fourth poorest in the country based on the 2003 final poverty data from NSCB).
 
   The ASSEF Project will be coordinated by NEDA 5 through a  Project Management Office (PMO) in cooperation with the IV, V and VI  class municipalities.

PROJECT COMPONENTS

   The ASSEF program will have five components namely: Agriculture Improvement and Development (AID); Basic Social Improvement and Development (BSID); Environment Improvement and Development (EID); Capability Building and Development (CBD); and Monitoring and Evaluation Component (M & E). The following components are summarized as follows:

   Agriculture Improvement and Development

   This component shall focus on the development of livelihood support needs of small farmers and fishermen. This shall include farm inputs and agriculture support facilities for production and post harvest activities, fishing paraphernalia and development of livelihood alternatives such as seaweeds culture and other fishery related activities. Agricultural Farm inputs shall include organic and inorganic fertilizers, farm chemicals, and quality seeds, rent to own large animals among others. The agriculture support facilities may include small communal irrigation system, shallow tube wells, incubator and farm machineries e.g. hand tractors and the like. Post harvest facilities include solar dryers, mechanical dryers, and small warehouses.  These agricultural inputs and facilities shall be anchored on proven/tested production technologies adopted by the farmers. Inputs and utilities/facilities for increasing fish catch of small fishermen shall also be covered.

   Basic Social Improvement and Development

   This component shall cover pre-elementary education and domestic water supply facilities. The pre-elementary education will include construction or improvement of classroom, procurement of books, non-academic materials, equipment for supplemental feeding and equipment for audio and visual facilities. The domestic water supply facilities will include level I and II systems. The Level I system will be limited to the development of spring sources that may be eventually upgraded into Level II system.

   Environment Improvement and Development

   This component will focus on the improvement of environmental management capabilities within urban, watershed and coastal areas within the jurisdiction of the LGU. Environmental management in the urban areas may include waste segregation, composting and material recovery systems. Watershed management will include reforestation and agro-forestation within sources of Level II and III water supply systems and irrigation systems of barangays. These shall ensure adequate supply of water within spring and running water sources. Coastal resource management shall include mangrove reforestation, fish sanctuary establishment, mariculture and other marine based livelihood projects, among others. Mangrove reforestation and sanctuary establishment shall have coverage of at least 10 hectares each. This component will include community organization and strong information dissemination and advocacy efforts on the importance of a well-managed watershed area.

   Capability Building

   The capability building component will be provided to the LGUs that signified their interest for the implementation of the ASSEF Project. The capability building will enhance the capacities of concerned officers and local planners of the partner LGUs in project development and management. This component not only will cover the entire aspect of project development but will also give emphasis on the skills required for the preparation of project papers for the ASSEF Program.
 
   This will enable their technical staff to prepare the technical papers in order to avail of the ASSEF Project and other fund sources. It will include project identification, project design using logical framework, project preparation, financing options, planning for project implementation and action planning. Project preparation will include market study, technical study, organization and management, economic and financial analysis, social impact analysis and environmental impact assessment. Planning for project implementation will discuss preparation of terms of reference, monitoring and evaluation, project implementation/management and project operation. Tips for writing project proposals will also be provided to the participants. The training is capped with the preparation of action plan and draft project proposal for each participating LGU.

 

   The training course participants will be about 600 officers and local planners of the participating LGUs in the ASSEF Project.  Ten participants per LGU comprised of the municipal agriculturist, environmental officer, social worker, municipal engineer, municipal treasurer, barangay captains, concerned Sangguniang Bayan members and municipal planning and development coordinator or planning staff will be accommodated. Fifteen batches of training program will be undertaken with 40 participants per batch. The participants will be grouped by districts or cluster of municipalities (whichever is most practical and applicable) to facilitate coordination and consultation among themselves.

   Monitoring and Evaluation

   The monitoring and evaluation component will involve the overall coordination of the project. It will include dissemination of information about the project, review and evaluation of the sub-project proposals, fund administration and monitoring and evaluation. The dissemination of information about the project will be undertaken through the conduct of the project call, which will include briefing and orientation of the prospective participating LGUs about the project and the mechanics for availment. The review and evaluation will cover the technical, economic/financial, social, environmental and operational aspects of the sub-projects. Comments and recommendations as well as technical assistance will be provided to the proponents to improve/ refine and finalize the sub-project proposals. Fund administration will cover releasing of the grant component of sub-projects to the LGUs – two trenches and review of financial and liquidation reports. Monitoring and evaluation covers the review of monitoring reports for the implementation of the sub-projects, conduct of field/ocular inspection, monitoring report preparation, endorsement for release of grant fund, certification of project completion and identification of best practices and outstanding accomplishments.

   PROJECT CONCEPTS

1. Sub-project directly provided to beneficiaries

2. LGU should address poverty

3. Modernizing agriculture

4. Train families on livelihood opportunities

5. Empower target beneficiaries

6. Sub-project is demand driven, first come-first served basis, sub-projects should be under the approved components, use of the prescribed format, one sub-project at a time

   Overall Goal (General Objective)

   To increase agricultural productivity and income of landless farmers and small fishermen, thereby improving the social and environmental condition of poor communities in the Bicol region.

   SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

• To enhance the capabilities of LGU in project development and management

• To enhance the capabilities of LGUs in establishing:

• farming and fishing facilities

• basic social infrastructure

• environmental management

   The project starting date was adjusted from December 2005 to March 2006 and completion date from November 2008 to February 2009 based on the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Spanish Government and Government of the Philippines “Clause 3. Duration, Section 3.1 This Agreement will take effect upon deposit of the grant from AECI to NEDA V special bank account in Clause 4, and will have a duration of thirty six months (36).” The AECI grant was deposited to the NEDA V special bank account on March 20, 2006, hence the Project’s starting date is March 20, 2006 and will expire after 36 months on February 19, 2009.
 
   The target beneficiaries for the capability building component were 10 personnel for 60 LGUs or a total of 600 participants with a budget of PHp 4,650,000. However, the approved budget for the capability building component was reduced to 14,150 Euros equivalent to about Php 877,300 in July 2006. The approved budget for capability building component is equivalent to 113 participants. The number of the target LGUs will be based on their willingness to avail of the Project through formal letter of intent addressed to the PMO.

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