DAVAO CITY, June 24, 2025 – To strengthen its Local Project Management Implementation Units’ (LPMIUs) capacity in crafting feasibility studies (FS) and business plans (BPs), the Mindanao Inclusive Agriculture Development Project (MIADP) Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO) XI through its Environmental and Social Unit (ESU) conducted training for environmental and social assessment and impact management.
Under the training, the LPMIUs together with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) representatives of Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental also underwent workshops in various frameworks within the ESU, including Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF), Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM), and Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP).
“Pagkahuman aning training, mao pay pagsugod kung unsaon ninyo pag-apply sa inyong natun-an diri. Kinahanglan nato himoong oportunidad ang impluwensiya nga mahatag nato sa atong mga kaigsoonang IP. Makab-ot lang nato ni kung mahimo nato atoang mga plano nga mag-malungtaron,” RPCO XI Deputy Project Director (DPP) Zabdiel Zacarias said.
(The real work of applying what you’ve learned here will happen after this training. We need to turn our influence to opportunities for our IP brothers. We can only achieve this through sustainable plans.”
Aside from the standards, the training also highlighted existing and applicable Philippine laws on E&S management to advance the LPMIUs’ knowledge in compliance requirements, sustainability practices, and community engagement strategies of the project.
“Tung una, ang perme maingon labot sa ESU nga kita ang kontrabida sa pag-implementar sa proyekto. Sa tinood, kita mao na ang guardians sa atong mga proyekto nga ipasaka sa MIADP. Unta atong himoong mga proposal, wala lang nakatutok sa paguswag, kinahanglan labot pud ang kinaiyahan ug katilingbanong paguswag,” Engineer III and RPCO XI ESU Head Joepar Escario emphasized.
(Historically, ESU has been labelled as the antagonists in project implementation. But the truth is, we are the guardians of the subprojects lodged to MIADP. I hope that when we craft our proposals, we not only look at development for development’s sake, but we should incorporate the environmental and social aspects of the project as well.)
Previously, the provinces of Davao Occidental and de Oro went through the same training as prep work for their FS and BPs. The first two subprojects, approved by the Regional Project Advisory Board (RPAB) for RPCO XI (one in infrastructure and another in agri-enterprise) came from the ancestral domain of Blaan-Tagakaulo in Davao Occidental.
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