As the DA – Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) Caraga continues to gear up for the implementation of the PRDP Scale-Up, its Social and Environmental Safeguards (SES) unit also continues to strengthen the skills, knowledge, and capacities of partner implementers in LGUs within the region.

The training of SES focal persons, held from July 30 – August 2, 2024, in the Dinagat Islands, covered the environmental and social standards to be enforced in the Scale-Up. The Environmental and Social Standards (ESS) and Environmental and Social Frameworks (ESF) are seen to enhance the implementation of the social and environmental safeguards of DA-PRDP.

SES Officer Ronald Sta. Theresa discusses the Environmental and Social Standards (ESS) employed in the PRDP Scale-Up.

“This serves as both a refresher course and capacity enhancement, especially with the additional frameworks for the Scale-Up,” said SES Unit Head Melody Guimary. “They can apply these learnings not only for DA-PRDP subprojects but to any projects their respective LGUs may undertake.”

From four SES frameworks, the Project will shift to three frameworks in the PRDP Scale-Up, this time with ten defined Environmental and Social Standards (ESS). The ESS cover protections and safeguards across an extensive range of environmental and social risks. This includes protections in labor and working conditions, management of environmental and social impacts, pollution prevention and management, community health and safety, biodiversity conservation, safeguards for cultural heritage and Indigenous Peoples, land acquisition, arrangements with financial intermediaries, and stakeholder engagement.

Within the four-day training, participants enhanced their knowledge of the frameworks, standards, SES tools and templates employed in the PRDP Scale-Up.

Anchored on lessons from the original PRDP, the more clearly-defined standards provide wider protections for stakeholders involved in project implementation. Standards on labor and working conditions, for one, aim to protect vulnerable workers involved in the Project, including women, persons with disabilities, migrant workers, and contracted workers. Increased stakeholder engagement has also been seen to increase communities’ acceptance of subprojects. In this view, open and transparent information disclosure to Project Affected Persons (PAPs) have been seen to improve the social sustainability of subprojects.

Participants applied their learnings through a site visit to proposed infrastructure subprojects under the Scale-Up, including the Sering – Plaridel farm-to-market road and the Sitio Patag – Sitio Dela Concepcion, Libjo FMR.

Skills gained from the activity are seen to improve the implementation of expanded safeguards throughout the subproject lifecycle. The SES unit under DA-PRDP ensures that implemented subprojects are not only technically viable but also environmentally and socially sustainable.

“The SES unit plays a crucial role in implementation by ensuring that projects are carried out in a socially responsible and environmentally sustainable manner,” said Jubert D. Tutor, the Municipal Project Management and Implementation (MPMIU) Head of Tago, Surigao del Sur. “To achieve development that does not deprive communities nor sacrifice the environment, lessons gained should be institutionalized into the regular operations of the LGU.”

Participants also visited the A&M Multi-Purpose Cooperative, a completed enterprise subproject engaged in cassava granules processing and marketing.

Within the four-day training, participants enhanced their knowledge of the frameworks, standards, SES tools and templates employed in the PRDP Scale-Up. These learnings were then applied through a site visit to proposed infrastructure subprojects under the Scale-Up, including the Sering – Plaridel farm-to-market road and the Sitio Patag – Sitio Dela Concepcion, Libjo FMR. Participants also visited the A&M Multi-Purpose Cooperative, a completed enterprise subproject engaged in cassava granules processing and marketing. ### (Nichole L. Talatala | August 5, 2024)