FAO-UN CONDUCTS WORKSHOP ON ENHANCING ADAPTIVE AND SHOCK RESPONSIVE SOCIAL PROTECTION IN BARMM
KORONADAL CITY | May 17, 2021
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform participated in a 2-day Learning Session and Workshop on Enhancing Adaptive and Shock Responsive Social Protection in BARMM: Developing an Anticipatory Action System and Drought AA Tool.
Facilitated by Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations under the project Joint SDG Programme “Ensuring Inclusive and Risk-informed and Shock-responsive Social Protection (RISRSP) resulting in more resilient communities in the BARMM at Hotel de Viajera, Koronadal City from May 17-18, 2021.
MAFAR was actively participated by Director II for Agriculture Services Engr. Ismail A. Guiamel and Pendatun S. Patarasa, Asst. to the Minister for Special Concerns/ FAO Projects Focal Person, MAFAR-Maguindanao Provincial Director Dr. Ronjamin Maulana, and Engr. Shuaib Salwang. Other ministries in attendance are from MFBM, MOST, and MILG BARMM-READi.
Dir. Guiamel, in his lecture about Anticipatory Action: Current Practices in Anticipatory Actions for Agriculture-based Livelihoods, emphasizing the significance of having records and correct data for sound decision-making and planning.
Guiamel also presented his study on “Watershed Modelling of the Mindanao River Basin in the Philippines using the SWAT for the Water Resource Management.” The concerns of water resource management in Mindanao are severely affected by geological and hydrogeological hazards due to the physical environment.
“Mindanao is vulnerable to disasters induced by natural hazards such as storm surges, typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, and floods,” Guiamel added.
The activity aimed to increase awareness of BARMM partner ministries and other project stakeholders on adopting an anticipatory approach to disaster management. Likewise, this workshop seeks to increase the capacity to monitor and act pre-emptively to safeguard and build the resilience of agriculture-based livelihoods.
On the other hand, Mauricio Civiles of BARMM-READI presented the Contingency Plan: BARMM Drought Plan while Ms. Lolita Vinalay, Chief Meteorological Officer Mindanao PAGASA Regional Services Division, lectured on Early Warning: Current Practices in Forecasting and Early Warning of El Niño/drought.
Meanwhile, FAO is represented by its project team physically and virtually, Ms. Maria Ruzela Quilla – National Project Development and Coordination Specialist (Presented the Case Study: FAO’s AA Activation in Mindanao during 2018/2019 El Niño-induced drought), Ms. Maya Lyn Manocsoc – Anticipatory Action Coordinator (Presented the EW Monitoring Tool: Updating and Validating the Drought AA Tool), Ms. Sharon Andrea Lumpias – Joint Programme Coordinator (Presented Exploring the link between Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Adaptive Shock Responsive Social Protection (ASRSP) for Resilience Building in the Bangsamoro), Ms. Divina Gracia Baclig – DRR CCA Specialist (Main training workshop facilitator), and Ms. Cheryl Villegas – Field Project Assistant (Secretariat).
Further, Pendatun Patarasa delivers his closing message by thanking his co-participants for enthusiastically engaged and substantially contributed to the 2-day learning session and workshop. Also, it expresses MAFAR’s sincere thanks to the FAO of the United Nations for facilitating the activity and continued support to the BARMM on Capacity Building of the relevant Ministries, particularly on Promotion of Food Security and Nutrition Resilient Livelihoods, and Technical Cooperation among others.
The activity achieved its goal to increase the participants’ understanding of Anticipatory Action and the importance of planning before the calamity strikes.
Moreover, Anticipatory Action helps mitigate the impacts by protecting people’s lives and livelihood, and income.