Category: Service Quality

Overview

Mindanao, the food basket of the Philippines, is a major food source and a key player in the Country’s international food exports. Mindanao generates more than 3 billion dollars worth of agricultural exports or 60% of the Country’s total agricultural exports; accounts for at least 40% of the Philippines’ food requirements; and contributes more than 30% to the national food trade. As Davao positions itself as a top exporter of processed food, it needs a hub for innovations and technical support to sustain the local food industry.

The Food Processing Innovation Center (FPIC) – Davao is the first Regional Food Innovation Center (RFIC) established in the Philippines through the High Impact Technology Solutions (HITS) program of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). The Center is mandated to provide innovative food technologies from the abundant raw materials found in the locality as well as give technical support to the food industry in the Davao Region and nearby provinces. Furthermore, the Center is registered as a non-stock, non-profit organization under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with a business permit, a License to Operate, and a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Certification granted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Center pioneers initiatives, sets operational standards, and collaborates with various agencies to provide technical support and expertise. FPIC-Davao not only complies with regulatory requirements but also contributes to economic growth and productivity in the Region.

Challenge

With its mandate to provide leadership and coordination of scientific and technological efforts and ensure maximum economic and social benefits for the public, the Department of Science and Technology Region XI faced a significant challenge in optimizing the utilization of its resources to efficiently deliver its outputs. The absence of a centralized shared service facility hindered the DOST XI in providing quality services and technical assistance to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the food sector, as well as students and researchers engaged in food science. Furthermore, there was a notable lack of collaboration and standards, representing a significant waste of time and motion in coordinating different sectors and stakeholders. The non-existence of such an operational framework hindered the effective exchange of information, resources, and expertise essential for providing Food Processing Laboratory Services in the region.

Solution

Established on 14 May 2014, the DOST XI, in collaboration with the Philippine Women’s College (PWC) of Davao, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) XI, the Food Processing Association of Davao (FPAD), Inc., the Local Government of Davao City, and HELP Davao Network. Its key features include:

Advanced Technology Integration: FPIC-Davao incorporates state-of-the-art equipment such as a vacuum fryer, spray dryer, water retort, freeze dryer, and cabinet dryer. This equipment enhances the efficiency of modern food processing techniques. These technologies streamline production processes to ensure higher productivity, increase value-addition, and improve product quality. The use of advanced technology also helps in minimizing food production wastage.

Collaborative Hub for Innovation: FPIC-Davao acts as a collaborative platform, bringing together the Department of Science and Technology XI, academic institutions, and industry key players. This collaborative approach fosters innovation by leveraging diverse expertise, promoting knowledge transfer, and facilitating interdisciplinary research. This synergistic multi-agency approach enhances the accessibility of resources, technical expertise, and support services for MSMEs, promoting practical technology application and commercialization, thus avoiding duplication of efforts, which ensures the efficient use of government resources.

Education and Training Platform: The Center became a laboratory facility for the professional courses of the BS Food Technology program of PWC and research projects of other schools in Mindanao. It became a training center for students, community extension activities, and MSMEs

Compliance and Regulatory Support: FPIC-Davao ensures compliance with regulatory requirements, being the first to initiate the application for a License to Operate as a Food Manufacturer by the FDA. This proactive approach establishes a foundation for producing safe, high-quality food products for its clients and toll packers.

Pioneering Initiatives and Standards: FPIC-Davao sets operational standards and serves as a benchmark for other RFICs and Research and Development Institutes (RDIs). Its operations manual harmonizes services and standard operating procedures, guiding newly established centers.

Non-Profit Structure and Compliance: FPIC-Davao operates as a non-stock, non-profit corporation, reinforcing its commitment to public service. Compliance with regulatory and statutory requirements, including securing a Mayor’s Permit and registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission, establishes a foundation for transparent and accountable operations.

In summary, FPIC-Davao’s innovative features lie in its integration of advanced technology, collaborative and educational initiatives, regulatory compliance, and a multi-agency approach. These aspects collectively address the public-sector productivity challenge by optimizing resources, fostering innovation, and ensuring the agri-food industry’s sustainable and competitive growth.

Productivity Gains, Outcomes, and Impact

The FPIC-Davao has demonstrated tangible productivity gains, impacting the Davao Region and its stakeholders. Key outcomes include being a common service facility and supporting MSMEs, FPIC-Davao contributes to sustained regional and national economic growth. The development of more than 50 innovative food products, assistance to over 200 customers, and securing prestigious awards showcase the economic impact generated by the Center.

The Center’s achievements align with its collaborators, especially the DOST XI and PWC of Davao, broader goals of fostering innovation, supporting MSMEs, and contributing to the overall growth and development of the food processing industry in the Region.

Lessons Learned/Challenges in Implementing the Intervention

Through its journey, the FPIC-Davao has yielded valuable lessons and identified areas for potential improvement. While FPIC-Davao’s operations manual has been a pioneering guide for other RFICs, standardization faces challenges ensuring uniformity across regional centers. Continuous efforts are required to address variations in local contexts and optimize the manual’s applicability.

Ensuring practical technology application, deployment, and commercialization, especially in rural areas, requires targeted efforts. Strategies for seamless technology transfer to MSMEs across diverse locations may need refinement for broader impact.

Enhancing market access for MSMEs supported by FPIC-Davao is an ongoing challenge. The Center can explore additional strategies to help these enterprises overcome market barriers and connect with a broader consumer base.

In conclusion, FPIC-Davao’s journey has provided valuable insights into the complexities of collaborative innovation, technology transfer, and sustainable development. Addressing these lessons and potential areas for improvement will further strengthen the Center’s role as a transformative force in the food processing industry and Regional economic growth.

Resources

Arayata, Ma. C. (2021, November 12). FPIC Davao to launch Food Innovation product. Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1159630

de Guzman, R. (2018, September 4). Davao leads in creating high-value food products with Dost’s Food Processing Innovation Center. Agriculture Monthly. https://agriculture.com.ph/2018/09/09/davao-leads-in-creating-high-value-food-products-with-dosts-food-processing-innovation-center/

Digital, S. S. D. (2023, October 14). Dost-Davao’s Food Processing, Innovation Center nominated. SunStar Publishing Inc. https://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/dost-davaos-food-processing-innovation-center-nominated

Food Processing Innovation Center. Philippine Women’s College of Davao. (n.d.). https://pwc.edu.ph/innovations-and-socialventures/fpic/

Name of the Organization

Technology Application and Promotion Institute

Name of the Office/Unit that leads the implementation of this best practice entry

Invention Development Division (IDD)

Focus Area of the Best Practice

Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management, Risk Assessment

Date the best practice was first implemented

16 July 2015 – up to present

Summary of the Best Practice

One or two decades ago, technology transfer enticed potential takers to adapt, use, or buy a technology package. When the Philippine Technology Transfer Act (Republic Act No.10055) came into law in 2009, due diligence seemed like a textbook theory. But things changed in 2015 when the DOST-Technology and Promotion Institute (TAPI) started to prepare for the possible receipt of requests for fairness opinion issuance that the said law requires in all commercialization efforts from publicly-funded research.

DOST-TAPI, through its Invention Development Division (IDD), developed its intellectual property (IP) due diligence mechanisms, in particular, Freedom to Operate (FTO) and IP valuation, essentially to provide technical support to the Fairness Opinion Board. The efforts either can be supported by or lead to the pioneering publication of FTO and IP valuation books, issuances of guidelines and protocols, and later adoption by the regional offices of the DOST that serve as the current Fairness Opinion Board Secretariat.

The Challenge

In bringing a research product into a market, there is a need to ensure that preparatory works are in place to increase its success and avoid waste of government resources or unnecessary legal battles. Part of the work requires looking into possibilities that there could be blocking patents that would impede market entry through Freedom to Operate assessment, IP valuation to serve as leverage during negotiations and licensing, and dealing with regulatory requirements. On equal footing, the Philippine Technology Transfer Act of 2009 encourages technology commercialization and explicitly requires that publicly funded researches undergo fairness opinion. Since there were no existing models, local or abroad, to use before the first request was received in 2015 for fairness opinion issuance, the DOST-TAPI, as the then secretariat of the Fairness Opinion Board, established the mechanisms from scratch, which included issuances of guidelines and protocols, and later fast-tracking of the services. The Best Practice is now being used by DOST’s regional offices and is now adopted by Research and Development Institutes (RDIs) around the country.

Solution and Impact

DOST-TAPI’s best practice is a due diligence mechanism that was first assessed through environmental scanning to determine whether there are existing models that can be adopted for the instant takeoff of the fairness opinion issuance. There appeared to be none, which became the basis to secure funding from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) that aimed to support the commercialization of locally-developed technologies and the operationalization of the Fairness Opinion Board (FOB) Secretariat by the DOST-TAPI. In-house capacity building, drafting and issuance of protocols and guidelines, and later training of other agencies were done. Towards the end of 2019, the experiences obtained from the development and use of the Best Practice inspired the amendment of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Republic Act (RA) No. 10055, which decentralized the role of the FOB Secretariat from DOST-TAPI to the regional offices of the DOST. DOST-TAPI capacitated all of the DOST regional offices to allow them to absorb requests for fairness opinions from their respective jurisprudence.

The best practice of the Institute led to the issuance of several memorandum circulars, such as guidelines to determine licensing royalties, technology commercialization policies, and fast-tracking options to issue fairness opinion reports. It also led to capacity-building activities of DOST stakeholders where thousands of researchers, scientists, policymakers, technology transfer professionals, intellectual property (IP) professionals, government specialists, professors, and students around the country were trained on fairness opinion issuance, Freedom to Operate (FTO), and IP valuation.

The most striking impact, however, that the best practice contributed to public sector innovation is the amendment of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of RA 10055. While many parts of the IRR were revised after thorough public consultations around the country, it would be highly distinguishable that Rule 11 was overhauled to present a better modality to issue fairness opinion reports. The following summarizes the revision as triggered by the best practice:

1. What cannot be considered as commercialization (Section 2)
2. Minimum required documents (Section 6)
3. Criteria for fairness, which guides the Fairness Opinion Board to evaluate the financial capability of the technology transferee and its ability to sustain the production, competitive position of the technology transferee, marketability of the product or service that shall be produced from the subject technology(Section 7)
4. Contents of the Fairness Opinion Report (Section 8)

The pre-commercialization due diligence mechanism of DOST-TAPI also contributed to the separation of the fairness opinion report to focus on the financial aspects of the transaction and to be issued by an independent third-party body of experts, with that of a Written Recommendation, as elucidated in DOST Memorandum Circular No. 002 s. 2019.

Milestones

With the due diligence mechanism getting handy, the DOST-TAPI was able to operationalize the FOB and created and streamline the processes, in particular Rule 11 of the IRR of RA 10055, leading to 102 IP valuation reports, 313 licensing agreements and term sheets, 61 written recommendations, and 159 fairness opinion reports from 2016 to 2020 as commissioned by theDOST. This also motivated launching of a technology transfer fellowship known as HIRANG: Honing Innovations, Research, Agreements and Negotiations of the Government-Funded Technologies Internship Program, which led to the graduation of 23 technology transfer interns and the signing of 12 licensing agreements.

In 2017, the pioneering team was nominated for the First Annual Awarding Ceremony of BCYF Innovation Awards in Malacañang Palace. The FTO and IP valuation teams of the DOST-TAPI were able to assess several local technologies, including the portfolio of potentially the country’s first unicorn. In July 2021, DOST-TAPI launched its Week-long Accomplishment and Culminating Activity of Special Projects (WACAS) to honor the project team’s accomplishments and included specialized public presentations dubbed “The Specialist” where the Best Practice was presented on two (2) topics, “Assessing IP Quality and FTO through IP Analytics” and “Demystifying IP Valuation”.

The specialists comprising the pioneering team from the Invention Development Division are now recognized as subject matter experts on the Best Practice. As proof of interest and adoption, DOST-TAPI specialists are now regularly requested as experts and resource persons by other agencies to teach or discuss FTO, IP valuation, and fairness opinion issuance.

Organization

Department of Science and Technology II

Best Practice Focus Area/s

Human Resource

Year Implemented

January 2019

This is a GBPR entry

Summary

The World Health Organization underscored that a healthy workforce plays a vital role in social and economic development at the global, national, and local levels. Employees are considered important assets of any organization, contributing to delivering quality services. Hence, organizations should consider employees’ health a top priority.

Considering the employees’ exposure to various health hazards such as pollution and diseases, as well as having a sedentary lifestyle and stressful environment, the Department of Science and Technology Regional Office 02 (DOST 02) decided to launch the DOST Care. This is spearheaded by its Human Resource and Health and Wellness Team to monitor and promote the overall health of the DOST 02 employees. The DOST Care was implemented in January 2019, starting with the patient profiling of employees and the provision of basic healthcare consultation and counseling by the DOST Care Team.

The monitoring of employees’ health serves as the basis for the constant provision of health care tips, necessary first aid, medication counseling, and recommendation to visit a physician if recorded vital signs are continuously abnormal. With the support of its Human Resource, DOST Care also initiates health-related seminars with themes that depend on the current problems the workforce is facing. The practice is still for improvement, but it has already provided vital health information to the DOST 02’s employees, most of whom had not known about their health risks. Now with DOST Care, all employees can keep track of their current health status and can prevent different possible diseases.

Background and Problem

The DOST 02, the lead agency that promotes and supports science, technology, and innovation, implies that it has a vast responsibility. From its flagship program, the Small Enterprises Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP), and the different regional committees it handles, the agency has a huge workload for its limited number of employees, making them vulnerable to certain diseases.

The agency staff spend most of their work hours in their respective offices drafting proposals and doing clerical work and are hardly deployed for field assignments. Aggravating the lack of physical exertion is the mental stress experienced by staff who usually resort to stress-eating, which further contributes to risk factors of non-communicable diseases like diabetes mellitus type II and hypertension. Other diseases may also arise from these practices, like stroke and cancer. The combination of (1) minimal physical movements to burn excess calories and body fat and (2) relying on fast-food as a means of immediate comfort makes it almost inevitable for DOST 02 employees to be at risk of developing non-communicable diseases.

In the last quarter of 2018, the regional director and the human resource management observed that employees were gaining weight and increasing utilization of their sick leaves. The agency is aware of the hazards of exposure to situations that may affect an employee’s health and recognizes their need for protection. Additionally, the agency heads acknowledged that health challenges may still be unknown to some staff, and they anticipate the staff may ask for help in the future. These concerns led to establishing the DOST Care Team, which would provide healthcare services to the entire agency workforce.

The overall objective of DOST Care is to monitor the basic health status of the DOST 02 personnel by offering the following tests: blood pressure, oxygen saturation, heart rate, and fasting blood glucose/ random blood glucose. These tests provide important information and impose a concern for health among their staff, encouraging them to be checked by a physician and educating them on the advantages of possibly obtaining an early diagnosis should they have a disease or condition needing attention. The project also raises employees’ awareness of their health situation and enables them to seek immediate intervention. Other than that, DOST Care also provides basic health interventions to address health issues experienced by the DOST 02 employees, enabling them to be more efficient in the organization by preventing further damage to their health.

Solution and Impact

DOST Care was one of the workplace health promotion practices of the agency targeting the prevention of non-communicable diseases brought forth by unhealthy habits and sedentary lifestyles. This practice provides the necessary information on the health of the DOST 02 employees, limited to blood pressure, oxygen saturation, heart rate, and blood glucose. The DOST Care thus serves as a health promotion program that instills in its employees a mindset to prioritize their health. With continuous improvement, they will eventually consider it an effective practice in improving health-related outcomes and preventing or decreasing health issues such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes.

It was also observed that most of the agency’s senior leaders had already been diagnosed with non-communicable diseases, making them unable to undertake their respective duties. DOST Care addresses this problem by constantly monitoring senior leaders’ health to improve their health status, enhance productivity, reduce sick leaves, reduce turnover and absenteeism. They also hoped that the junior employees, who will soon be the senior leaders, would become more aware of their health status and start considering a healthy lifestyle, rendering them physically ready and fit for future responsibilities in the agency.

The practice started with profiling DOST employees to determine who already had underlying diseases and who were prone to acquiring such so they could be prioritized in health monitoring. The priority health check is immediately conducted upon request of the employees or those staff who are manifesting symptoms. From that point onwards, the team has been conducting the tests once a month, analyzing the results so that those whose numbers fall outside the normal range are provided with non-pharmacological interventions.

They gathered normal values for the different tests from these reliable sources: American Lung Society for Oxygen Saturation, American Heart Society for Heart Rate; Joint National Committee -7 for Blood Pressure; and WebMD for Blood Glucose.

The team records all data gathered in its database, which is kept confidential and can only be accessed by them. Thus, they can monitor the trends in each employee’s health status. The employee may request the results from check-ups for personal purposes, and if results continue to fall outside the normal range for three (3) consecutive check-ups, they would advise the employee to see a physician.

DOST Care, with the support of the agency’s Human Resources, has initiated seminars necessary to provide additional knowledge regarding one’s health. They conducted a seminar last October 2019 that addressed two health issues the agency currently faces: Tobacco Smoke and Mental Health in the workplace.

Milestones/Next Steps

The DOST Care was recognized as one of the agency’s leadership approaches contributing to the agency’s success in achieving PQA Level II, considered the highest award given to an organization. It will also expand its tests to include Body Mass Index (BMI) monitoring, which is essential in managing and preventing non-communicable diseases.

DOST Care will also provide statistics and necessary information to HR to plan other health-related seminars that will provide additional health information to its employees. The agency initially planned a seminar focusing on non-communicable diseases, basic over-the-counter drug knowledge, and coping with workplace stress. However, these activities were postponed because of the pandemic but will resume once everything goes back to normal.

With the current situation of the country, persistent and more tedious health monitoring is needed. People with co-morbidities like hypertension, diabetes, respiratory illness, and other diseases are more prone to be infected by the coronavirus. DOST Care promotes the welfare of its staff through the early provision of the necessary information for monitoring their health, indirectly preventing the spread of COVID-19.

In coordination with its HR, DOST Care is currently crafting systems that would monitor other necessary information related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The system would include a temperature monitoring and symptoms survey, which will greatly help the DOST 02 employees prevent the spread of the virus, especially if a DOST 02 employee is found to be a COVID-19 carrier. DOST Care, through HR, also initiated its Contact Information Sheet and monitoring system for clients; it will be useful in contact tracing if one of their customers is diagnosed with COVID-19.

Agency staff is asked to maintain a healthy lifestyle and keep their immune system strong. Through DOST Care, the DOST 02 employees are constantly aware of their current health status, which helps prevent the spread of diseases and other health issues that would be detrimental to them.

Organization

Governance Commission for Government-owned-or-controlled Corporations

Best Practice Focus Area/s

Leadership, Human Resource, Operations

Year Implemented

11 May 2020

This is a GBPR entry

Summary

At the onset of the pandemic, GCG personnel experienced several difficulties concerning their regular work operations. Their issues were around adopting work-from-home arrangements and health concerns around the ongoing pandemic. In light of this, the agency implemented interventions specific to each problem they observed. Namely, their interventions were remote access to their Data Management System (DMS), a weekly health status survey, reformed policies on alternative work arrangements, an Identification Barcode System, and an Online Employee Information Management System (EIMS). These interventions have helped their personnel adapt to the new normal, and these interventions were so successful that they continued to be implemented long after.

Background and Problem

At the onset of the pandemic, GCG personnel experienced a number of difficulties in relation to their regular work operations. One of the main issues was around the adoption of work-from-home arrangements. Personnel raised many questions relating to other office policies. For example, what to do if they contracted the virus, to whom they should report, how they could file a leave, how their leave credits would be charged, and alike. And in relation to the previous point, monitoring personnel’s time-in and time-out of GCG became near-impossible given the disruption in work arrangements. Also, given the alternative work arrangements, there were some difficulties in delivering outputs as some outputs are heavily dependent on official documents or submissions from their stakeholders. These were only accessible via the agency’s Data Management System (DMS), their central repository for official documents.

There were some health concerns around the pandemic. Health Monitoring was limited and relegated to immediate supervisors rather than some formalized system. Moreover, there was concern about the agency’s dependence on the Biometrics System in timing. This was a concern since the virus can be contracted through surface contact.

Solution and Impact

To address these problems, the agency employed solutions addressing each problem.

1. Remote Access to the DMS was enabled so that even those who are working from home could access the agency’s central repository for official documents.
2. A weekly health status survey was developed by the Human Capital Management Division (HCMD) to have a centralized weekly monitoring system for the health and well-being of its personnel. Particularly, it is cascaded every Wednesday of the week, and the report per office is sent to the respective Directors for them to be apprised of the health and well-being of their respective personnel every week. This was further improved to include monitoring those who have already been vaccinated or are waiting for their respective schedules.
3. Policies on alternative work arrangements were also developed for GCG personnel on what to do, who to report to, what their rights are with respect to their leave availments, and their respective work arrangements.
4. An ID barcode system was developed to circumvent the biometrics system’s necessity of touching surfaces.
5. An online Employee Information Management System (EIMS) was developed to enable even those working from home to time-in and time-out through the comfort of their homes using their laptops or cellphones. Daily Time Records could be generated for payroll purposes as an added benefit. Directors were also given their dashboards to monitor the physical reporting of their personnel as well as the time-in and time-out.

Overall, the aforementioned best practices gave the agency and its personnel ways to adapt to the new normal while ensuring the continuous operations of the agency despite the pandemic. And in terms of their long-term impact, the agency had the luxury of only needing to make minimal changes in light of changing pronouncements, given they already had the required programs in place.

Milestones

Remote access to the DMS is still being implemented in the agency, especially for those working from home. As a way forward, the agency is looking to have personal laptops that can access the DMS while also implementing supplementary protocols to ensure the confidentiality of official documents.
The weekly health survey was used in conceptualizing other programs in the agency. One program, in particular, was an onsite vaccination program. The survey is continuously improving to include personnel’s mental health. In the future, the revised survey may lead to other programs.
Policies on alternative work arrangements are still ever-changing, subject to the official pronouncements from the Office of the President. However, recent developments to the policies have been instrumental in allowing GCG personnel to physically report to the office as needed, with the added benefit of free motor pool services from the agency.

The online EIMS has been a critical monitoring tool for personnel’s observance of health protocols and their time-in and time-out. This monitoring has given directors the necessary information to change the schedule of physical reporting and WFH every month. The tool has also been updated to allow their Human Resources department other functions, such as changing whether selected personnel will work from home or on-site, generating ID barcodes for newly-hired personnel and allowing them access to the Online EIMS, and deactivating those who are separated from service.

Organization

Capiz Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office

Best Practice Focus Area/s

Leadership, Strategy

Year Implemented

25 June 2018- Present

This is a GBPR Entry

Summary

The Capiz Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (CaPENRO) recognized the primary responsibility of locals in addressing environmental problems. They initiated the 1M Kahoy Project. It is a province-wide tree-growing activity in which the component city participates. It has also grown to support the livelihood of communities.

Background and Problem

In September 2017, the Capiz Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (CaPENRO) was created to focus more on effectively governing the environment in the Province of Capiz. Since its establishment, it has been committed to developing, promoting, and implementing programs toward an ecologically sustainable and resilient Capiz. And in recognizing the primary responsibility of locals in addressing environmental problems, they initiated the 1M Kahoy Project.

Specifically, the 1M Kahoy Project aimed to address the following identified gaps in Capiz directly:

1. There was no existing agency in the province that conducted sustainability programs. Relatedly, there was also a lack of environmental programs being implemented.
2. The degradation of forest cover in the province was substantially high. Particularly, Capiz only had nine percent (9%) remaining forest cover;
3. There is a need to create Climate Change Mitigation at the local level.
4. There is a lack of coordination and collaboration among the various local stakeholders of Capiz, from NGAs, LGUs, NGOs, Academe, and other sectors on environmental conservation, protection, and restoration.

Solution and Impact

The 1 Million Kahoy Project was formulated as a province-wide tree-growing activity. And aside from the component city, municipalities, barangays, Local Government Units (LGUs), National Government Agencies (NGAs), Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), academic institutions, the business sector, civic organizations, religious organizations, People’s Organizations (POs), and even private individuals were also encouraged to join. And every Capisnon who is 12 years old and above was also eligible to participate in the activity.

The CaPENRO’s efforts brought the following results for the 1 Million Kahoy Project:

1. 1,146,755 trees were planted in 2018, and the activity had 167,195 participants
2. 667, 160 trees were planted in 2019, and there were 41,874 participants
3. 1,747,518 trees were planted in 2020, and there were 40,026 participants

Across all years, not just one sector but various sectors were represented. The 2018 implementation had 74,608 from NGAs, and the 2019 implementation had 34,689 from academic institutions. The reforestation of deforested areas in the mountains of Capiz.

Over time, the project’s scope has also grown to create livelihood opportunities for communities from coastal or upland areas. One community, particularly, was from the Integrated Social Forestry’s (ISF) beneficiaries. The ISF is also a greening project initiated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which has been devolved to the LGUs of Capiz.

As part of the 1 Million Kahoy Project, ISF beneficiaries were given materials to kick off their livelihood projects, and they were also partnered with business sector stakeholders in Capiz. On the other hand, business sector stakeholders were also encouraged to metaphorically adopt certain ISF beneficiaries by financially supporting their production of seedlings for reforestation. Through these arrangements, business sector stakeholders have supported the 1 Million Kahoy Project and helped the ISF beneficiaries who are also part of a greening effort in Capiz.

Milestones

The project’s success led it to be recognized as a significant contributor to the DENR’s National Greening Program. Moreover, the project’s success has also come to be critical for the Philippine Coconut Authority Agricultural Research Program for Climate Mitigation, Resiliency, and Response, the Department of Agriculture and Department of Education’s Tree Planting and Greening Program, the Department of Labor and Employment’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD), and the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation (CCAM) through enabling cash for work. And because it has been so successful, other LGUs and organizations have also started their initiatives similar to it.