Satisfaction Smiles. Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Proceso Alcala (left) is happy to receive the overall satisfactory rating of the World Bank during the Wrap-up Meeting of the World Bank Implementation Support Mission to PRDP on September 18, 2015 in Quezon City. During the meeting, World Bank Task Team Leader for PRDP Carolina Figueroa-Geron (2nd, left) emphasized that the PRDP continues to be the vehicle of the DA to change the way it does business with the agriculture stakeholders. Also in the photo are World Bank Portfolio and Operations Manager for the the Philippines Agata Pawlowska (3rd, left) and World Bank Sector Leader Frauke Jungbluth (right). (Photo by Kathrino Resurreccion)

World Bank gives satisfactory rating to gov’t rural dev’t project

Date Published: September 23, 2015

The World Bank accorded the government’s Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) a “satisfactory” rating during the exit conference of the month-long First Implementation Support Mission to the Project on September 18, 2015.

The rating was determined after the WB team had assessed the PRDP’s implementation on the ground. The team visited on-going Infrastructure (I-BUILD) sub-projects and proposed enterprise development (I-REAP) sub-projects, and consulted with beneficiaries, proponent groups and other stakeholders during the cluster missions.

In a wrap-up meeting with the World Bank consultants and specialists, Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Proceso J. Alcala expressed his appreciation to the World Bank team for acknowledging the satisfactory implementation of the project.

He likewise recognized the need to sustain the rural development innovations that the PRDP is working on.

“Indeed, the DA has proven that the implementation strategies and measures we had put early on are in still in good place,” Alcala said adding that the innovations must be sustained.

Despite the project’s satisfactory performance, the Agri chief notes that there are still aspects in the project that the department and its local partners need to work and improve on.

“With the able support from the World Bank and the DA leadership, we are positive that we can deliver better tasks and outputs for the enhanced implementation of the project. Our shared enthusiasm with LGUs as implementation partners is certainly greater than the challenges we have to hurdle, together,” he added.

World Bank Portfolio and Operations Manager for the Philippines Agata Pawlowska, who delivered the report of Task Team Leader for PRDP Samik Sundar Das lauded the PRDP implementers for the quick implementation of the project, as well as its healthy project portfolio, considering that it was just signaled effective in December last year.

“After just nine months, you have continued the strong start-up and momentum of project implementation,” Pawlowska continued.

World Bank Task Team Leader for PRDP Carolina Figueroa-Geron stressed that at US$501.25 million (P27.48 billion) and US$7 (P287 million), the PRDP is the biggest World Bank single investment to the Philippines.

“The PRDP continues to be the vehicle of the DA to change the way it does business with the various stakeholders such as local government units, farmers’ and fishers’ groups [and the] the private sector, among others, in the agriculture sector,” Geron added.

During the mission, which commenced on August 24, the World Bank team met with the heads and personnel of PRDP’s Project Support Offices (PSOs) and Regional Project Coordination Offices (RPCOs) and discussed the current set-up of PRDP’s implementation on the ground. The World Bank also checked if tools, processes and monitoring systems in the sub-project sites are in place.

Two proposed sub-projects in Palawan and Bohol under the I-REAP component with Global Environment Facility (GEF) funding were also visited.

Under the GEF financing, the DA-PRDP aims to assist enterprise development initiatives in GEF-identified areas while strengthening fisheries resources management and biodiversity conservation.

The PRDP, implemented under the DA, is the government’s main platform for rural development. It aims to operationalize local level convergence among agricultural stakeholders to synergize programs and projects for modern, climate-smart and market-oriented agri-fishery sector that benefits the greater segment of farmers and fishers. (Catherine Nanta, DA-PRDP)

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