BAGUIO CITY—The National Economic and Development Authority–Investment Coordinating Council has approved P600 million for the scale-up and extension of the Second Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management (CHARM) project for another two years ending on December 2018.
Dr. Cameron Odsey, CHARM project manager, said 65 percent of the approved project amount will fund infrastructure projects ranging from farm-to-market roads, irrigation, and water-impounding projects in identified beneficiary barangays.
Another 25 percent will be used for the agroforestry and watershed management, and 10 percent is earmarked as the seed money for organizations implementing livelihood projects.
Odsey said the seven-year CHARM project will end this December after the implementation of catch-up plans that used funds earmarked for programmed interventions in the communities identified to benefit from the foreign assistance.
The doctor admitted there were delays in the execution of the identified projects in some of the beneficiary communities owing to problems with existing local policies. These were eventually addressed through the application of the catch-up plans that would be achieved by the end of this year.
He explained that participatory approach was one of the integral elements and strategies of the project; thus, it will also be part of the strategies to be used for the expansion of the CHARM.
“Participatory approach is the meaningful and inclusive participation of all stakeholders from planning to implementation to monitoring and evaluation of development interventions,” Odsey stressed.
“Participation extends to the identification and prioritization of needs and projects; decision-making; allocation of resources and implementation of projects by community members, council of elders, women, traditional institutions; local government units, national line agencies and the funding agencies.”
Odsey pointed out that the approval of the extension of the project for another two years is considered as a reward by the World Bank to the government for successfully implementing the programmed projects for the seven-year period, where 37 municipalities regionwide benefitted from various interventions.
He explained the involvement of the communities and other stakeholders in all stages of project implementation, starting from the participatory project investment planning to evaluation. This resulted in the empowerment of the 170 project-covered communities and the capacitation of the various stakeholders, primarily the indigenous peoples, Odsey said.
