| About Us | Products & Services | Updates | Recent Projects |
| Publications | Board of Trustees |

	Banana chips and nukos na bulad from the POs

Five identified beneficiary people’s organizations (POs) in Camiguin were recently granted soft loan financial assistance thru RCED-PACAP’s joint vigor project to support their own business endeavors. The Pos, including their respective LGUs, could not believe that after quite some time of rigid planning, trainings and follow through activities, they’d be able to head out five of the many priority projects they’ve listed on their BDPs after a Participatory Rural Appraisal conducted two years ago.

“Sa papel lang kato sauna pagsugod sa participatory planning, karon ginabuhat na gyud namo sa kahugpungan. Although naa namiy ginagmay na kasinatian ani na project sa pagpaninda sa isda. Ginagmay lang man ug dili pod kooperatiba,” said Adelina Fabela, project manager of Balite 2 SEA Kaunlaran Women’s Association, who is into fish trading and processing.

Grabbing a total soft loan amounting to P162,840 to support the priority livelihood engagements, the five POs keenly embarked on their business operations a day after the fund release ceremony. Though a deficient of 52.7 percent of this amount had already been approved, it would form part of the second tranche of releases. This was because the amount of initial releases were set based on the “capacity to handle” loan portfolios of the POs, which were determined during the financial planning.

Fabela also added “Sa pagpadagan naa pa diay mas labaw na angay namo mahibal-an para sa kaayuhan sa negosyo. Very effective gyud ang gipa-ambit na mga seminar ug amo gyud nagamit.”

Even if the release of funds for the five projects were in succession, the same level of seminar workshops and trainings were undergone by the POs except for the skills enhancement activity which was designed according to the sort of business enterprise. Among the series of capacity building activities undergone to appropriately equip them with the exact entrepreneurial skills and strengthen their organization management prior to project operation include empowering leadership and local governance training, project planning workshop, skills training and trading system development, simplified bookkeeping and accounting, financial planning and savings mobilization seminar.

For more than a week of project operation, the demanding work lined up throughout the doors of each POs. Hard work, the passion and the modest technical knowledge are what they contain as greenhorn in the business world, and their dreams of making a change -- helping boost more economic activities in their community and improve the living standards of the poor.

“Ipatidlum nato sa atong kasing-kasing, ug makita unya ang daku na kabalhinan sa atong kinabuhi. Dili lang kutob sa atong liog, ato gyud ni ipractice. Hinaut na mamahimo tang modelo ngadto sa uban natong kauban sa komunidad.” Rosita A. Lerion, chairperson of Balbagon Multi-purpose Cooperative, told her co-participants during the financial planning held last March in the area.

These operational livelihood ventures are the components of the project titled “Capacity building and livelihood development for People’s Organization in Camiguin Province” spearheaded by the five identified Pos, namely, Balite 2 SEA Kaunlaran Women’s Association in Brgy. Balite, Sagay; South Poblacion Women’s Association in Brgy. South Poblacion, Guinsiliban; Nagpakabana Multi-purpose Cooperative in Brgy. Mainit, Catarman; Balbagon Multi-purpose Cooperative in Brgy. Balbagon, Mambajao; and Tubod Active Women’s Association in Brgy. Tubod, Mahinog.