Category: Innovation Leadership

Agency

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Region IV-A

The initiative was a finalist at the GBPR 2018

Summary

The Convergence Effort for Poverty Alleviation is an initiative of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Region IV-A in partnership with local government units (LGU), state universities and colleges (SUCs), regional line agencies, and the private sector to promote development and address poverty issues in the CALABARZON Region.

This initiative was first launched in 2016. Since then, it has been instrumental in ensuring that projects and programs for poverty alleviation in Region IV-A are conducted equitably toward the population who need these types of support most.

Background and Problem

The success of poverty alleviation programs relies on equitable distribution of resources, prioritizing supporting the poorest community members. However, without factual data on the areas in CALABARZON with the highest poverty incidence or the geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA), national and local government efforts run the risk of implementing poverty alleviation projects in areas or segments of the population that need the least support.

The promotion of socio-economic development remains to be one of the major objectives of NEDA. In its efforts to direct government resources toward the poorest communities in CALABARZON, NEDA IV-A launched the Convergence Effort for Poverty Alleviation in 2016.

Solution and Impact

Through the CALABARZON Regional Development Council (RDC), the RDC Resolution No. IV-A-75-2016 was passed to institutionalize the effort to identify the poorest and the GIDA communities in Region IVA. The identified areas were collectively called the Priority Convergence Areas. Through the designation of Priority Convergence Areas, policymakers and development institutions are made aware of the places in the region that should be given priority in implementing poverty alleviation projects. Through the Convergence Effort for Poverty Alleviation, NEDA IV-A was able to mobilize development activities of the government, the academe, and the private sector development activities to these priority areas.

Since its inception, two investment forums were held in the region in 2017. These facilitated the funding of investment projects of 45 CALABARZON Convergence Areas to alleviate poverty and develop tourism and indigenous peoples, and were done in partnership with various government agencies and the private sector. Among the 45 areas, five community outreach activities were conducted by NEDA IV-A.

The REINA (Real, Infant, General Nakar Area) Cluster Tourism Master Plan was developed in partnership with the Department of Tourism (DOT) Region IV-A to provide a comprehensive framework and strategic guide for tourism activities in the short, medium, and long-term in the region to accelerate the economic recovery of the area. Additionally, the NEDA IV-A also conducted a feasibility study on developing ports and road networks in the Polillo Group of Islands.

Organization

City Government of Bacoor

Best Practice Focus Area/s

Leadership, Strategy

Year Implemented

2019

This is a GBPR entry

Summary

“Safer, Adaptive, Disaster–Resilient community towards sustainable development” is the battle cry of most DRRM offices. Bacoor Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (BDRRMO) aims to fulfill its primary task of providing efficient and competent emergency services to the people of Bacoor City. Bacoor DRRM, in its goal to achieve spiral progression, necessitates first-hand training with competent conferences to hone skills from which pertinent services may develop to provide superior emergency response aid in times of calamity. Part of BDRRMO’s growth is to ensure that its employees and individuals residing in the City should be familiar with the what’s and how’s of a disaster. As a result, capacity building and training helped make Bacoor a resilient and better city. The joint effort of the people and community helps the city progress to make DRRM possible.

Background and Problem

The City of Bacoor, a first-class urban component city in the province of Cavite, Philippines, has a political diversity of 73 barangays grouped into two legislative districts: Bacoor West and Bacoor East. The City of Bacoor Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CBDRRMC) is a branch consistent with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Framework (NDRRMF), serving as “the principal guide to disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) efforts to the country.” It envisions a country of “safer, adaptive and disaster-resilient Filipino communities toward sustainable development,” which conveys a paradigm shift from reactive to proactive DRRM. This vision involves men and women progressively increasing awareness and in-depth understanding of DRRM, with an end-view of improving people’s resilience and decreasing the vulnerability of its citizenry.

The lack of knowledge in managing susceptibilities and risks places citizens in greater danger, which is further alarming, especially in executing response and rehabilitation in the post-disaster stage. Relevant stakeholders are the primary down-line in which stringent training and equipment must be required to enable them to reach out to the community and provide public information and proper dissemination to its constituents.

Solution and Impact

Under the given framework that constitutes the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office of the City of Bacoor, the office is granted to join a training from which learnings and applicable knowledge of Emergency preparedness and response may come. The BDRRMO believes that personnel equipping and training bring the office to achieving quality service provision in every situation it may encounter. Principal actions were taken in equipping its staff and even the DRRM Council, which comprised relevant departmental agency heads, including the Local Chief Executive, through former Mayor Lani Mercado-Revilla’s leadership. For the year 2019, records have shown that the organization has initiated, facilitated, and participated in 16 significant trainings and courses such as Basic ICS, Flood Incident Management, Contingency Planning, Planning workshop on DRRM Health, LDRRM Plan, Advance ICS Training course, Road Safety and more.

The BDRRMO framed a “Risk Assessment and Analysis” for the City of Bacoor to identify potential hazards, determine the probability of occurrence, estimate the impact on the communities at risk, promote practices for reducing vulnerability, plan measures and take action to reduce risk, and create awareness on how to implement disaster risk reduction measures.

The data gathered to formulate the Elements at Risk were categorized per hazard in each barangay. It was aligned and supported by the following sources: National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), Rapid Earthquake Damage Assessment System of PHIVOLCS (REDAS), Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB), Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), National Statistics Office (NSO), Office for Senior Citizen’s Affair (OSCA), Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP), and the Research and Planning Division of the CDRRM Office.

In addition, reverberation and continuity of application of learning have been efficiently exercised through several localized trainings initiated by the BDRRMO, such as 1) Community schooling on Basic life support, 2) First-aid, and 3) Commencement of drills and disaster practices and simulations among 4P’s recipients, barangay officials and staff, Bacoor Chamber of Commerce, Private and Public secondary academe, federations of Sangguniang Kabataan and even Collegiate institutions.

These measures achieved during CY 2019, still in pursuit of continual training in the new normal setting, paved the way to fulfilling a spiral of progressive growth in handling disaster phenomena in the 21st century millennia. It also sets a higher benchmark to achieve and fulfill the advancement of operational services in the years to come.

Milestones/Next Steps

The City DRRM’s handling of disaster occurrences in its goal has prominently advanced, and at the same time, milestones and bulbous recognitions were also given in apt evaluation of elevating BDRRMO’s services. The City of Bacoor was the first LGU to establish its own fully-equipped and competently trained Incident Management Team in CALABARZON and to conduct Basic ICS training for Uniformed Personnel and Sangguniang Kabataan in the region.

The CBDRRMC recurrently receives recognition and awards in Gawad Kalasag, an award-giving body headed by the Office of Civil Defense. In prior years, recognitions and places were given by the same award-giving body in fulfillment of an elevated and progressive operation. In 2018, CDRRMC placed 2nd in the Regional Gawad Kalasag held last 30th of August at Tagaytay International Convention Center. In the succeeding year, CDRRMC grabbed the Regional Gawad Kalasag title and placed 2nd in the Gawad Kalasag National Level.

Organization

City Government of Bacoor, Cavite

Best Practice Focus Area/s

Leadership, Citizens / Customers, Operations

Year Implemented

2019 onwards

This is a GBPR finalist entry

Summary

The City of Bacoor has always responded decisively in addressing its people’s concerns and plight, particularly in employment. Through the leadership of former Mayor Lani Mercado Revilla, the Bacoor Public Employment Service Office (PESO) has always heeded the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) challenge to provide decent work for its constituents through local and national government programs. This commitment is visible in the office’s many employment efforts and the move to address the present concern of work displacement brought about by the pandemic. The Jobs Generation and Facilitation Program is a special add-on to the regular activity being performed and spearheaded by the Bacoor PESO Department and OFW Help Desk Office for all its constituents.

Background and Problem

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, unemployment in the country soared to 17.7% in April 2020. This is said to be the highest unemployment rate on record. This number actually represents around 7.3 million Filipinos who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. DOLE estimated more than 5 million jobs would be lost due to the pandemic. Almost all regions registered a double-digit unemployment rate in April 2020. Reports noted that 38.4% of employed workers said they were not working, even if they wanted to, primarily due to the strict imposition of lockdown because of COVID-19.

Upon announcement of the lockdown, the City of Bacoor strictly adhered to all quarantine protocols and procedures issued by the National Government to help address the growing concerns on COVID-19 disease and protect people’s lives under its care. Consequently, several business establishments in the city were forced to operate on a lean schedule, thus affecting the livelihood and income of the Bacooreños. The once robust business climate is now a distant memory, and laborers and entrepreneurs face a bleak future brought about unexpectedly by the seemingly harmless virus affecting millions globally.

Unemployment and underemployment are at an all-time high. As the National Government implemented a halt on public transportation upon the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID19, the City had to address the growing demand of every barangay for daily food delivery and bare essentials due to limited access to transportation. Fueled by a sincere desire to help improve, uplift, and proactively change the lives of the Bacooreños from this evident and harsh actual scenario, the City Government of Bacoor, through the Bacoor PESO, was moved to conceptualize and implement a vigorous campaign and innovative employment strategies.

Solution and Impact

The Bacoor PESO has always spearheaded job-generating activities like job fairs, local recruitment, career information guidance, and pre-employment seminars. Partnerships are also established with private academic institutions offering senior high school programs to help their graduates look for work after graduation to earn their tertiary education. To date, the Local Government of the City of Bacoor, through the PESO, has initiated the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement with St. Michael’s Institute, St. Francis of Assisi College, and the Dep-Ed Schools in Bacoor. The main aim of the formal engagement is to ensure that graduates of partner academic institutions will be prioritized and accommodated by the Bacoor PESO Office in their job-seeking efforts and will be given employment coaching and labor market information seminars for additional information about the actual world outside the four walls of the classroom.

Collaboration with the City Social Welfare Development (CSWD), Bacoor Livelihood, and the Barangays is sought regularly by providing updated labor market information, particularly on available jobs through accredited private companies of the Bacoor PESO via the Local Recruitment Activity.

When the COVID19 pandemic struck, the City Government of Bacoor and PESO implemented “The Public Employment Service Office (PESO) Jobs Generation and Facilitation Program of the Local Government Unit, City of Bacoor in the Time of the Global COVID-19 Pandemic.” The LGU entered a Memorandum of Agreement with FoodPanda Philippines, Inc. and JoyRide/Happy Move Company to help answer the city’s employment and food delivery service needs. The program provided work to almost 300 displaced Bacooreño tricycle drivers, ordinary workers, and interested OFWs and simultaneously answered the demand for delivery services for food and other essentials in the city. DOLE Region 4A commended the program for its “out-of-the-box ideas in delivering enhanced and improved employment service suitable for the current situation.” DOLE further recognized that “these services are needed more than ever, especially now that many members of our labor force are affected due to the stringent community quarantine.”

The office also implemented a system for online job applications to secure employment and to help people with limited access to transportation due to the stringent community quarantine procedures and protocols.

Milestones/Next Steps

The Bacoor PESO is a non-fee charging multi-employment service facility established through Republic Act No. 8759, known as the PESO Act of 1999. It is linked to DOLE for coordination and technical supervision and to DOLE’s central office, which constitutes national employment and service networks. The Bacoor PESO ensures prompt and efficient employment services and information on other DOLE programs. It seeks to provide, promote, and facilitate employment services to job seekers, employers, and stakeholders through capacity development and linkage with government and non-government entities. For years, Bacoor PESO has provided employers and prospective employees opportunities to meet and become partners in nation-building through jobs generating activities. Bacoor PESO was institutionalized in 2012 and has served more people through essential employment services. It also manages and supervises the OFW Help Desk Office, which caters to our “modern-day heroes” concerns.

In July 2013, the DOLE Region 4A Office recognized Bacoor PESO as the “Best Regional PESO.” On September 25, 2013, Bacoor PESO was also nominated for being the “Top Regional Performer,” a recognition that qualified the office for the national best PESO Award. For two consecutive years, in 2019 and 2020, DOLE also recognized the efforts of the Bacoor PESO in helping the agency attain its goal of establishing reliable Labor Market Information through the immediate implementation of the yearly Enhanced Monthly Employment Report.

In June 2020, at the height of the COVID19 pandemic, DOLE Calabarzon Regional Director Henry John S. Jalbuena expressed his utmost commendations to the Bacoor PESO Manager and Local Chief Executive for their out-of-the-box ideas in delivering enhanced and improved employment services suitable for the current situation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the innovations that emerged in the Region are the partnership of Bacoor with food delivery service applications like FoodPanda, JoyRide, and HappyMove, which benefitted displaced tricycle drivers, ordinary laborers, and some OFWs. The effort of the PESO to help address the employment needs of the Bacooreños during the pandemic was hailed as “inspirational.” It was cited in former Mayor Revilla’s recent State of the City Address (SOCA).

Organization

City Government of Cauayan, Isabela

Best Practice Focus Area/s

Leadership, Strategy, Citizens / Customers

Year Implemented

2016

This is a Recognized Best Practice

Summary

The Food Bank Project was an initiative of the Cauayan City LGU to promote food security, food safety, and good nutrition. Launched in December 2016 in line with the localization of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, particularly that of ending hunger, the Food Bank acts as a food storage and distribution center of food catering especially to disadvantaged families and children, giving them free food daily to reduce hunger incidence and malnutrition. As the first hunger relief operation in the city and one of the LGU’s core social service programs for the marginalized, it has substantially contributed to the decrease in the malnutrition rate in the city in 2016, from 1.4% to 1.2%.

Background and Problem

For us living comfortably, the word “hunger” has a different connotation in the context of “world hunger.” According to the UN’s Hunger Report, hunger is the term used to define periods when populations are experiencing severe food insecurity. This means that large groups of people go for multiple days without eating. Several programs and projects are already implemented relative to this.

Like many countries, the Philippines has not been exempt from this humanitarian issue. It has been taking great strides to address it, especially in the city of Cauayan. They have already implemented many programs and projects to address hunger and malnutrition in their city. But to truly solve this issue, their city requires a project with long-term sustainability and funding, which is difficult to attain.

Solution and Impact

To solve the problems of sustainability and funding, the local government unit initiated collaboration efforts with the three pillars of society (local government, civil society, and the business sector) to develop innovations suited to the needs of the different sectors. And through these joint efforts, Cauayan City’s Food Bank was conceptualized.

The Food Bank project was implemented in line with the thrust of localizing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 2: Zero Hunger. The LGU believes these small steps will contribute to attaining the objectives of this global advocacy. And with the help of the members of the City Council, Ordinance 2017-107 was enacted, providing guidelines for the donation, operation, storage, and distribution of healthy cooked meals to less fortunate members of the community through a Food Bank.

Moreover, all establishments engaged in selling retail or wholesale non-perishable goods such as canned goods and long-shelf-life foods are encouraged by Cauayan City’s Food Bank to deposit and donate such food items with them months before the expiration so that they may be cooked, processed, and given to indigent families. Nutritionists and dieticians ensure that such food is safe, not yet spoiled, and healthy before serving it to the identified beneficiaries. Moreover, the same ordinance provides that establishments found guilty of selling expired goods are to be penalized accordingly. With this, establishments are prevented from selling expired food items, ensuring food safety for the public.

Individuals, establishments, local retailers, companies, NGOs, and other charitable institutions are also encouraged to participate through donations, in cash or kind. These, in turn, supplement the city government’s funds, allowing for greater budget allocation towards the maintenance of facilities and the daily operations of the Food Bank.

Also, the food bank promotes volunteerism and collaboration among the people, the private sector, and the local government. In this way, it addresses hunger and malnutrition in the city and instills initiative and camaraderie among the city’s different constituents, creating possibilities for other welfare collaborations in the future.

Milestones/Next Steps

Since its creation, the Cauayan City Food Bank project has catered to 22,288 individuals, including children, out-of-school youth, and indigent families. This project has substantially contributed to the decrease in the malnutrition rate of the city in 2016, from 1.4% to 1.2%.

Also, this project led Cauayan City to become a Hall of Fame awardee in the 2016 National Nutrition Award. And last 2017, the City Nutrition Office conducted a study where it recorded a 0% malnutrition rate, making Cauayan City free from malnutrition.

And in June 2020, Food Bank on Wheels, a sub-project of the Food Bank, was activated in partnership with the Padyak para sa Kalusugan at Nutrisyon Program. When Cauayan City was placed under General Community Quarantine, the Food Bank on Wheels partnership catered to 1,500 individuals from six barangays composed of senior citizens, pregnant and lactating women, 4Ps members, PWDs, and malnourished children.

Organization

Municipal Government of San Fernando, Romblon

Best Practice Focus Area/s

Leadership, Strategy, Human Resource

Year Implemented

July 2018-2019

This is a GBPR finalist entry

Summary

The Municipality of San Fernando was the first municipality in the Province of Romblon to conduct the Rescue and Fire Olympics, which aims to strengthen and promote community disaster preparedness towards increased resilience. The first-ever Rescue and Fire Olympics was launched last 25 July 2018, as part of the National Disaster Resilience Month Celebration with the theme: “Katatagan sa Kalamidad ay Makakamtan Kapag Sapat ang Kaalaman sa Kahandaan”. The second Fire Olympics was organized last 26 July 2019 with the theme, “Kahandaan sa Sakuna’t Peligro Para sa Tunay na Pagbabago”.

Background and Problem

Disaster can be considered inevitable nowadays due to global warming and climate change. No one today is safe from calamities and even from accidents. Therefore, everyone can be a victim of any form of disaster. Due to its geographical setting, the Municipality cannot escape the possibility of being affected by various calamities. Therefore, the conduct of the Rescue and Fire Olympics every month of July since 2018 has been essential and imperative to prepare effectively, respond to, face the consequences, and capacitate the key actors in times of calamity. It also provides additional knowledge and skills to every school and local official to improve the capability and capacity of every constituent for environmental adaptation.

The Local Government Unit of San Fernando, Romblon, through the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, must provide its constituents with a safe, peaceful, and sustainable environment to address and adapt to the effects of climate change. Consequently, it upholds that it is everyone’s civic duty to help, support, and cooperate with the government’s undertakings and abide by the laws enacted by the government authorities to sustain government efforts on climate change and to prepare and mitigate calamity impact on lives, properties, agricultural productivity, commerce and industry, infrastructure, service delivery, and livelihood, before, during and after disasters.

Solution and Impact

Of all the seventeen municipalities of Romblon Province, the LGU of San Fernando was the first to conceptualize and consistently conduct a Rescue and Fire Olympics in 2018. This is a special event held every July following the annual celebration of National Disaster Resilience Month. The activity primarily aims to scout and capacitate volunteers or groups of volunteers on basic rescue techniques and skills. Initially, the LGU tapped various secondary and tertiary schools in the municipality and encouraged students to join the activity with support from their faculty and other school officers. This practice has honed individuals on standard protocol and rescue and fire operations strategies. The competition was composed of three battles: Rescue and Transfer Relay, Fire Extinguishment, and Bucket Relay. Each participating school also had representatives for Miss Rescue and Fire Olympics Ambassadress.

The activity was made possible through the initiative of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and support from the Bureau of Fire Protection. All Secondary and Tertiary Schools have been participating every year.

The following are the steps undertaken for this LGU Practice:

• Establishment of guidelines, mechanics, rules, and regulations, including the budgets for the events;
• Conduct orientation and demonstration with each participating Rescue and Fire Brigades Team;
• Submission of list of participants, including their medical certificate;
• Preparation of the venue and all the equipment and materials needed for the event;
• Events proper: Parade, Program, Competition proper, awarding ceremony; and
• Monitoring of the said Program for sustainability.

Milestones/Next Steps

The Local Government Unit of San Fernando, Romblon, has received the Gawad Kalasag Award for CY 2018 and 2019 conferred by the Office of Civil Defense MIMAROPA Regional Office. The same Office provided the MDRRMO of San Fernando, Romblon, with a Certificate of Appreciation. Schools and the community have been capacitated and prepared to respond independently during emergencies. With this initiative or practice, the LGU found a solution by establishing an auxiliary force at the community level that can be tapped in case of disaster or emergency.

Organization

Pampanga State Agricultural University

Best Practice Focus Area/s

Leadership, Strategy

Year Implemented

2011

This is a Recognized Best Practice

Summary

Pampanga State Agricultural University (PSAU) is a state-owned university nestled at the foothills on the western slope of Mount Arayat. It has a total land area of 508.8534 hectares. In 2010 about 30 families illegally settled in the area, occupying around 35 hectares. The university leadership developed management strategies to solve this problem by promoting a sustainable co-management of forest land. The effort resulted in a harmonious relationship between the farmers and the university administration. The tension and lack of peace were replaced by active participation, cooperation, and a sense of ownership and co-management of the coffee-based agroforestry plantation site.

Background and Problem

In 2010, when PSAU was still called the Pampanga Agricultural College, 30 families settled in the title land of the college. They burned slash to clear the area to plant crops and engaged in the illegal charcoal business. The illegal kaingin resulted in the depopulation of biodiversity in Mount Arayat and the tension between the illegal settlers and the College administration. It occupied a total of 30 hectares of land.

Solution and Impact

To solve the problem in an orderly manner, a management strategy was initiated by President Honorio M. Soriano. He invited the 30 informal settlers to a meeting in June 2010, where the settlers were informed that the land they were occupying was titled and owned by the school. He explained that it was illegal to invade and cultivate the ground as it was not theirs. The 30 illegal settlers were initially terrified to learn their actions were unlawful. Still, out of compassion, President Soriano told them he would organize them into a farmer association to be farmer partners and co-managers of the 30 hectares of land. Since the illegal settlers were from nearby barangays of the college, namely barangays Ayala and San Agustin, the association was named Ayala-San Agustin Farmers Association or ASAFA. The school administration assisted the farmers in formalizing their association and registered ASAFA with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2011.

After organizing the informal settlers, President Soriano’s second management approach was to forge a MOA between the 30 ASAFA members and PAC a project entitled: “Establishment of a Joint Project on Coffee Plantation” to promote sustainable co-management of forest land through the provision of livelihood source and income to the informal settlers, who became members of the Ayala-San Agustin Farmers Association. Thus, the project simultaneously helped them in their livelihood while protecting the biodiversity of the forest reserve of the university by stopping the illegal cutting of trees and charcoal making.

The MOA for this project was signed on June 30, 2011, with the following responsibilities of the university to meet the objectives of the Ayala-San Agustin Farmers Association and the PSAU Coffee-Based Agroforestry:

1. Engage the informal settlers as university partners by formally organizing them into the Ayala-San Agustin Farmer’s Association (ASAFA);
2. Designate a piece of land (one hectare for each ASAFA member) within its reservation area to establish a coffee plantation jointly managed by PSAU and the farmer-cooperators;
3. Assist in the distribution of coffee seedlings to the farmer-cooperators;
4. Provide technical support to ASAFA members in coffee production and other crops like bananas, tamarind, and vegetables; and
5. Share 70% of the profit from sales of coffee to ASAFA members, while 30% will go as Cash incentives to their children taking Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and BS Agroforestry.

From the coffee profit, 70% will be shared directly with the ASAFA farmer cooperators. In comparison, 30% will be cash incentives to their children taking Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Bachelor of Science in Agroforestry.

The following are the immediate results of this best practice:

1. It resulted in a regular source of income for our ASAFA farmer cooperators. The tension between the informal settlers and the administration was resolved.
2. No more informal settlers were invading the forest reserve area, and the illegal cutting of trees and charcoal making were immediately stopped.
3. The administration peacefully organized them into a farmers’ association—ASAFA.
4. Vegetable production intercropped in the coffee plantation included the following cash crops—okra, string beans, eggplants, squash, etc.
5. The perennial lack of water was solved after installing a solar pump irrigation system funded by the Department of Agriculture through the fund source initiative of PSAU President Soriano. This resulted in increased productivity during summer.

The following are the long-term impacts of this best practice:

1. Preserved biodiversity of the PSAU’s forest reserve;
2. Achieved food security, poverty alleviation, better nutrition, source of income, and improved lives of the ASAFA farmer cooperators and their families;
3. Prevented soil erosion and degradation;
4. Mitigated climate change through sustained coffee-based agroforestry planted with bignay, tamarind, cacao, bananas, and other fruit-bearing trees; and
5. PSAU became an agro-ecotourism destination and an immersion site for urban areas.

Milestones/Next Steps

This project involves PAC designating one hectare of the forest reserve for each ASAFA member. This was to be utilized in planting coffee, intercropped with bananas, fruit trees, and cash crops such as eggplants, string beans, squash, sili, to name a few.

1. In 2011, PAC conducted a 12-day free training course for ASAFA in partnership with Morning Glory Foundation. A week after the training, 10,227 coffee seedlings of the Liberica variety were distributed to the 30 ASAFA farmers.
2. Since it takes four to five years to harvest and with just one major harvest a year, the farmers intercropped their coffee plantation with cash crops and marketed these in the municipality of Magalang to serve as their immediate income. The university does not require them to share their profit from these crops.
3. The farmers’ earned income from their banana and vegetable or “cash crops” sales, which sent their children to school and provided for their needs and wants.
4. The farmers’ highest net income was P294,500.00 in 2017, derived from coffee, banana, and vegetable sales.
5. UPLB College of Forestry and College of Ecology came to PSAU to benchmark this best practice.
6. Twenty-five managers and coffee “baristas” from Starbucks, a worldwide coffee chain, undertook an immersion activity at the coffee plantation site in 2018. They interviewed and exchanged views with the coffee growers.