DA-PRDP boosts gov’t transparency through CSO partnership
The Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) partners with various Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in a bid to boost government transparency in implementing and monitoring projects aimed to alleviate poverty in the country’s rural areas.
DA-PRDP in a statement said that as part of the initiative, representatives from World Bank, CSOs, and PRDP conducted a participatory visit in one of the PRDP’s pilot provinces, Oriental Mindoro on September 22-24, 2014. Along with this, training on geo-tagging was also conducted to equip the volunteers the basic knowledge on monitoring using the tool.
PRDP Deputy Project Director Arnel de Mesa said the activity aims to test geo-tagging with the CSOs as a major tool in monitoring PRDP sub-projects as well as promoting transparency. He added that geo-tagging is a homegrown tool first used under the Mindanao Rural Development Program in 2011 in response to the problems in monitoring conflict and remote areas in the region.
De Mesa also told the participants that geo-tagging can be used to verify and prevent duplication of projects. Moreover, it can be used as a complementing tool in the procurement system.
World Bank Senior Procurement Specialist Noel Sta. Ines said that CSOs’ participation as well as of the local community is important not only to prevent corruption and incompetence, but also to share the positive things that the government is undertaking.
He added that geo-tagging can be used in various sub-projects not only by the DA but also by other government agencies. With this innovation, project implementers will have scientific basis in putting up projects like farm-to-market roads, irrigation systems, farm animal dispersal, and reforestation, among others.
Oriental Mindoro Vice Governor Humerlito Dolor who welcomed the participants expressed his gratitude with the assistance expressed by the DA through the PRDP. (DA-PRDP)
