As part of the Capacity Building initiative of the Philippine Rural Development Project Scale-Up I-REAP Component, Proponent Groups of completed enterprise subprojects in Marinduque underwent a series of Organizational Development coaching and mentoring sessions.

Among the topics covered were Project Cycle Management, Leadership and Governance, Community Planning, Resource Management, and Values Formation. Each of these topics respond to the respective PGs’ organizational needs.

The February segment of the monthly coaching session was attended by the Nangka Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Butansapa Multi-Purpose Cooperative, and Bahi Agricultural and Fisheries Association (BAFA) respectively. 

Bahi Agricultural and Fisheries Association member Luzviminda Laudita shared how valuable social capital is in the conduct of organizational activities. Based on her testimonial, workshops on social capital could potentially save an organization.

“Ngayon lang ako naka-pakinig ng ganan, ng social capital. Kung noong una pa ako nakapakinig ng ganang seminar, siguro ang aming samahang coop noon ay hindi bumagsak. Naipapaliwanag ng tama at nauunawaan lahat ng mga miyembro na [mahalaga ang] magandang ugali at pakikisama, at hindi lamang ilalagay sa isip at puso ang mga natutunan, dapat gamitin din ang skills para magawa nang maayos ang mga gawain sa samahan,” shared Laudita.

(This is the first time that I’ve heard about social capital. Had we had this kind of seminar before, our previous coop wouldn’t have failed. [Through this workshop] we realized the importance of kindness and fellowship, and that we shouldn’t only leave our learnings in our heads and hearts, but to put it into action as well so organizational tasks will be achieved.)

Organizational Development coaching is an initiative of the I-REAP Component of PRDP to provide training support to proponent groups of completed subprojects to ensure successful post-implementation of the enterprises. For the purpose of this engagement, Willy Awitan, Organizational Development expert from the University of the Philippines Diliman was invited to guide the organizations to improve their dynamics leading to better operations. # (Danica A. Brutas, DA-PRDP MIMAROPA RPCO InfoACE Unit)

PRDP together with the Nangka Multi-Purpose Cooperative of the Nangka Coco Coir Production subproject. (Photo by Danica A. Brutas, DA-PRDP MIMAROPA RPCO InfoACE Unit)

Members of the Bahi Agricultural and Fisheries Association pose with their outputs from the coaching session on Resource Management. (Photo by Danica A. Brutas, DA-PRDP MIMAROPA RPCO InfoACE Unit)