The team from World -Bank (WB) led by Task Team Leader and Senior Rural Development Economist Frauke Jungbluth has officially started its pre-mission activity for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in the Visayas, specifically in Bohol last January 25-27, 2016.

Also part of the team were Agriculture and Institutions Specialist Mr. Douglas Forno; Senior Environment Specialist Mr. Leonardo Paat Jr.; Coastal Resource Management Specialist Mr. Joey Gatus, together with Philippine Rural Development Project – National Project Coordinating Office (PRDP-NPCO) Deputy Project Director Arnel De Mesa as they conjoined with representatives from Provincial Project Monitoring and Implementing Unit (PPMIU) Bohol led by Atty. John Titus J. Vistal for a brief presentation regarding the update of the WB-GEF intervention and support for Visayas areas.

The GEF support contributes to the conservation of biodiversity and strengthening the coastal and marine resources based in targeted project areas through enhanced institutional and planning capacities of local government units and communities; provide support to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in particular areas of global diversity significance and select fishery co-management arrangements; and sharing of knowledge and practices.

Task Team Leader and Senior Rural Development Economist Frauke Jungbluth during a dialogue with representatives from the local government unit of Bien Unido, Bohol last January 26, 2016.

NPCO NRM Specialist Ulysses Triambulo presented the status of prepared small livelihood projects (SLPs) and MPAs. According to Triambulo, the SLP for Bohol for the 8 MPAs (Buenavista, Talibon, Bien Unido, Ubay and Carlos P. Garcia) have already been approved by the RPAB.

The presence of the World Bank team hopes to address issues and concerns, and come up with realistic and effective solutions to keep the project up and going. One of the issues brought up was the constant changes in the requirements such as various types of forms/documents requested. DPD De Mesa assured that this issue will be cleared out before being approved by the Regional Project Advisory Board (RPAB) and Project Support Office (PSO); citing strict compliance with all the forms.

On January 26, the team together with other technical staff, headed to Bien Unido for site validation but was not pushed through due to unforeseen bad weather. A dialogue was arranged between the local government officials of Bien Unido for further discussion, especially regarding the aspect of MPA management and its budget.

“This pre-mission activity attended by World Bank team aims to enlighten in terms of advancing our project and what else is needed to be done. Now is the time for us to start moving and show our outputs,” said Paat.

On January 27, the last day of the pre-mission activity, the group gathered once again for a wrap-up meeting. Ms. Frauke and Mr. Forno shared their respective conclusions and insights during the three-day activity.

“It is important to know what our priorities are and set realistic timelines. It is very useful to meet for us to have a common understanding. This is a lot of effort to get these done and you have made a lot of rounds in involving a lot of groups. So we really need to see what makes sense and achieve in the five-year time-frame that we have left. We really need to get started,” said Jungbluth.

Before closing, Deputy Project Director Engr. Cirilo N. Namoc, in behalf of the PSO Visayas team, extended his gratitude towards the World Bank team and called on the NPCO, Regional Project Coordinating Office and involved LGUs for a unified walk towards the success of the Project.

The meeting concluded with an interactive action planning where several schedules were laid out for GEF such as: (i) MPA Planning Workshop; (ii) Coordination and Orientation of the GEF Regional Technical Working Group; (iii) Orientation of the PRA-RSA; and the (iv) GEF Launching in Danajon Bank. (September Noon Macahilo, PSO Visayas InfoACE)