UNIVERSIDADE DZAMBOANGA  

                                           

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT 

DON, A.V TORIBIO, ST., TETUAN, ZAMBOANGA CITY 

MPA – PROJECT PLANNING MANAGEMENT

Title  SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD ENHANCEMENT FOR AGRARIAN

REFORM BENEFICIARIES IN BARANGAY BULUAN

Location  IPIL, ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY PROVINCE

Proponent  CHRISTINE H. LEAL

PHASE 1 - VISIONING 

INTRODUCTION

The Department of Agrarian Reform- Provincial Office, Zamboanga Sibugay is proposing a

Sustainable Livelihood Enhancement for farmer beneficiaries through the Agrarian Reform

Beneficiaries Organization (ARBOs) this aims to sustain the productivity of the provided land

and to provide other opportunities for the beneficiaries to increase their level of productivity

and quality of life.

Buluan is a barangay in the municipality of Ipil, in the province of Zamboanga Sibugay.

Buluan is situated at approximately 7.7176, 122.5271, in the island of Mindanao. Elevation at

these coordinates is estimated at 11.0 meters or 36.1 feet above mean sea level.

The Buluan Agrarian Community Cooperative (BACOMCO) of Barangay Buluan, Ipil

Zamboanga Sibugay is one of the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization of the agency.

The organization composed of 36 females and 47 males, a total Eighty- Three (83) Agrarian

Reform Beneficiaries (ARB). The community engaged into coconut plantation, vegetables

gardening and other livelihood income generating. With the low cost of coconut product, the

beneficiaries need to innovate a value adding product out of “tuba” to help boost the income

generating activity of the organization out of the raw materials available in the area and to

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uplift the socio-economic of the community. However, it’s still enough to sustain their needs

every day because of other related factors influencing directly and indirectly the development

process of Barangay Buluan which will be deliberate in this the another phase of this project.

VISION: We at Department of Agrarian Reform envision a society where Agrarian Reform

Beneficiaries have the guaranteed opportunities of development that enables them exercise

their right to education, health, livelihood and social security.

MISSION: Department of Agrarian Reform is dedicated for uplifting the status of

the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries through various development initiatives.

OBJECTIVES:

 To promote business-oriented community-based organizations, undertaking collective

production and marketing techniques for long-term sustainability.

 To promote community bases organizations at grassroots level for sustainable

development in Barangay Buluan.

 To promote livelihood promotion and social inclusion services to the Agrarian referom

Beneficiaries with innovative solutions

 To promote value based education among the beneficiaries for holistic development

 To provide capacity building to various stakeholders and undertake evidence based

research on various development themes

PHASE 2- PLANNING DESIGN 

To identify and prioritize the problems, Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial of

Zamboanga Sibugay conducted a need assessment survey among the beneficiaries. Discussions

have also been conducted among the Buluan Agrarian Community Cooperative (BACOMCO)

of Barangay Buluan, Ipil Zamboanga Sibugay and Department of Agrarian Reform Team.

Even other government agency such as; Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department

of Science and Technology (DOST) and Department of Social and Welfare

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Development(DSWD) introduce and implement programs to that Barangay. All the above

schemes are aimed at improving the living conditions of the community by directly involving

the appropriate target groups. Still, livelihood is the major problem for the Agrarian Reform

Beneficiaries. Based on the priority of the need and demand from the community, Department

of Agrarian Reform has taken this initiative to design a community based sustainable

livelihood project for sustainable development of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries after a

thorough assessment and analysis. The project mainly focus on capacity building for skill

development on agriculture, vegetable and alternative livelihood options, capital and tools

support, creating community assets , networking and building community based

institutionalize.

IMPLEMENTATION STEPS

1. ASSESSMENT 2. RESPONSE 3. SET UP AND 4 MONITORING

ANALYSIS IMPLEMENTATION & EVALUATION

1.1. Assessment 2.1 Analytical Frame 3.1 Programme Set-up 4.1 Monitoring &

Framework work 3.2 Beneficiary Evaluation

1. 2. Identify 2.2 Analyse Communication & Framework to

livelihood zones & problems, casualty Accountability Resilience

wealth groups relations and related 3.3 Registering, Context Monitoring

1.3 Assessment needs implementing &

impact of 2.3 Analyse Reporting

livelihoods and adequacy of

most vulnerable response provided or

households planned and identify

1.4 Assess gap

markets 2.4 deciding on an

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 functioning & appropriate response

Prices 3.5 Design proposed

1.5 Identify the intervention

gap in livelihoods

need

TARGET AREA: The Buluan Agrarian Community Cooperative (BACOMCO) of Barangay

Buluan, Ipil Zamboanga Sibugay.

TARGET PEOPLE/BENEFICIARIES:

Name of ARBS Non-ARBs Total Members

ARBOs Mal Female Tota Male Female Tota

e l l
BACOMCO 67 46 113 3 - 3 115

The overall goal of this project is to uplift the socio-economic status of the Agrarian reform

beneficiaries by the end of 2 years through various training and activity to be given to them by

the Department of Agrarian Reform.

ACTIVITY LOG FRAME

The following is the activities to be implemented in the Project

Activity 1.1 Conducting need assessment including baseline survey and collect detailed

demographic information of beneficiaries

Activity 1.2 Formation & orientation on Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries

Activity 1.3 Training on group dynamics to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries

Activity 1.4 Training on leadership development

Activity 1.5 Training on accounts and bookkeeping.

Activity 1.6 Exposure visits to other NGOs

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Activity 1.7 Procurement of Quality seeds for paddy cultivation

Activity 1.8 Training on cultivation to build technical skills in agriculture cultivation.

Activity 1.9 Procurement of storage bin units will be procured and distributed to beneficiaries

for creating grain banks , metal storage bins and safety net during period of food insecurity

Activity 1.10 Orientation sessions will be organised for ARB beneficiaries on the maintenance

of the unit.

Activity 1.11 Procurement of Vegetable seeds for promotion of kitchen garden Activity.

Activity 1.12 Training on Scientific Agricultural vegetable cultivation to beneficiaries

Activity 1.13 Training on Organic farming on vegetable cultivation to farmers

Activity 1.14 Vocational skill building on alternative livelihood opportunities

Activity 1.15 Capital support to start alternative income generating activities will be provided

like dairy farm, Goat farm and poultry farm and leaf plate making

Activity 1.16 Workshop on government livelihood entitlements to increase knowledge on the

existing schemes

Activity 1.17 Seminars on Right to Information (RTI) Act. Right to Information Act is

enforced by the Government of the Philippines

Activity 1.18 Networking with financial institutions to establish and increase micro-credit

linkages for BACOMCO.

Activity 1.19 Organising Cluster level meetings Activity

Activity 1.20 Training on organisation development and management will provide basic

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understanding about the organisational dynamics, development and management.

Activity 1.21 Networking for building marketing linkages.

Activity 1.22 DAR will provide on-going technical support to strengthen the society

BUDGETARY REQUIREMENTS

The Total financial requirement is 10, 295,000.00; towards entire project cost for 2 years. The

allotted fund from the Project Beneficiaries Development Division Fund Particular on

LINKSFARM will be 3,000,000.00 (29%), the donor contribution 7,295,000.00 (71%)

EXPENSE HEAD AMOUNT PERCENTAGE

Program Cost 5,500,000.00 53%
Personnel Cost 3,720,000.00 36%
Administration Cost 1, 075,000.00 11%
Total 10,295,000.00 100%

PHASE 3- PROPOSAL WRITING 

Mr. Anthony M. Teves, Chief for Program Beneficiaries Development Division (PBDD)

represents the organization in all legal and contractual obligations. He will also be responsible

for implementation of the project and reporting in all related matters. He will appoint project

staff, develop project work plans and review project progress on regular basis. In addition, the

project will require five full time paid staff (including a Project Manager) for implementation

of the project. The project Manager will manage day to day project operations and report to

Chief for Program Beneficiaries Development Division (PBDD). The organogram of project

staff and their details are given below:

POSITION(S) AND REQUIRED JOB PROFILE

QUANTITY QUALIFICATION
Project Manager (One) Post-Graduation preferably Overall responsible for the

in Social Work with at least project implementation,

three years’ experience in monitoring and reporting

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 project management under the framework of the

project. The incumbent will

be responsible for staff

capacity building initiatives

and networking with various

stakeholders
Livelihood Coordinator Post Graduate Certificate in The person will be

(One) Livelihood management with responsible for formation

at least two years’ and capacity building of

experience in livelihood Identification and assessment

promotion of livelihood opportunities.

Exploring marketing

opportunities and building

linkages with various

stakeholders on livelihoods.

Accounts Admin Officer Accounting/ Commerce with Assist the project coordinator

(One) two years of experience in with administrative and

NGO accounts and office financial functions of the

administration project. The person will

assist the project coordinator

to maintain project

documentation and provide

coordination support to the

field staff
Community Mobilisers Graduate and two years’ The community Mobilisers

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 (three) experience in community are primarily responsible for

mobilization undertaking community

mobilisation activities as

well as awareness raising

initiatives.

PROPOSAL LETTER

DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM

BLISS IPIL HEIGHTS, IPIL HEIGHTS
IPIL, ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY PROVINCE

June 15, 2021

SAMSONA L. AUTIDA
BACOMCO Manager
Buluan, Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay

Dear Madam:

The Department of Agrarian Reform Team enjoyed discussing the opportunity to work with

you on our Project: Sustainable Livelihood enhancement for our Agrarian Reform

Beneficiaries. We began working on this project last week after our initial email, and are

submitting a proposed action plan for your review.

On May 25th, we discussed your growing concerns regarding the status of life of our Agrarian

Beneficiaries. We see that one of the concerns of our beneficiaries is their livelihood; we can

help to increase the productivity and level of quality of life of our beneficiaries through this

project initiated by Department of Agrarian Reform.

For this project, we estimate a budget of roughly P10, 295,000.00 for two years. We can

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discuss the plan in more detail if you choose to proceed, and can adjust the budget based on

your specific needs and our recommendations.

If you would like to move forward with our proposal, please send me an email so we can begin

discussing and planning the next steps right away. I will follow up with you through email next

Thursday, June 24th.

Thank you kindly for reviewing our proposal. If you have additional questions, I am available

by email at Christine.leal@uz.edu.ph or by phone at 0999-53-56-828.

Sincerely,

ANTHONY M. TEVES
Chief, PBDD

PHASE 4: PROJECT REVIEW AND APPROVAL

The Project Approval Review is an important hurdle for a new project to pass. At this review,

executive or senior management will determine whether there is sufficient technical and

economic justification for the business to undertake the project.

Submit Project Proposal

Estimate Baseline
Prioritize Project
Cost and Schedules

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 Evaluate Funding
Alternatives & Scenarios

Approve or Reject

Apply
Funding Allocate Funding Project Rejected
Scenarios

Project Kick-off Project Plan

Updated

The result can be one of the following:

Approved The project will proceed. At a minimum, funds and resources will be

made available for initial Inception Phase activities.

Not Approved There is not sufficient merit to proceed with this project

Decision deferred More information is needed, or further investigation is required

before an approval decision can be made.

PHASE 5: PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

The estimated duration of the Project is 2 years and the schedule of implementation of the
project is illustrated below.

No
Activity Year 1 Year 2
.
Activities Related Setting up the Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q Q3 Q4

Project 2
1. Recruitment of Project Staff
2. Setting up of Project Office
3. Procurement of office equipment,

computer, printer and motor bike

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4. Inception workshop for project staff to

understand and clarify the problem

Core Project Activities
5. Conducting need assessment including

baseline survey and collect detailed

demographic information of

beneficiaries
6. Formation & orientation on Agrarian

Reform Beneficiaries

7. Training on group dynamics to

Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries

8. Training on leadership development
9. Training on accounts and

bookkeeping.
10. Exposure visits to other NGOs
11. Procurement of Quality seeds for

paddy cultivation

12. Training on cultivation to build

technical skills in agriculture

cultivation.

13. Procurement of storage bin units will

be procured and distributed to

beneficiaries for creating grain banks ,

metal storage bins and safety net

during period of food insecurity

14. Orientation sessions will be organised

for ARB beneficiaries on the

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 maintenance of the unit.
15. Procurement of Vegetable seeds for

promotion of kitchen garden Activity.

16. Training on Scientific Agricultural

vegetable cultivation to beneficiaries

17. Training on Organic farming on

vegetable cultivation to farmers

18. Vocational skill building on alternative

livelihood opportunities
19. Capital support to start alternative

income generating activities will be

provided like dairy farm, Goat farm

and poultry farm and leaf plate making

20. Workshop on government livelihood

entitlements to increase knowledge on

the existing schemes

21. Seminar on Right to Information (RTI)

Act. Right to Information Act is

enforced by the Government of the

Philippines
22. Networking with financial institutions

to establish and increase micro-credit

linkages for BACOMCO.

23. Organising Cluster level meetings

Activity
24. Training on organisation development

and management will provide basic

understanding about the organisational

dynamics, development and

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 management.
25. Training on financial procedures and

management to provide basic

understanding on the financial

management of the society.

26. Networking for building marketing

linkages.
27. DAR will provide on-going technical

support to strengthen the society.

Monitoring and Evaluation
28. Half yearly project reviews
29. End of Project Evaluation
Reporting Activities
30. Monthly project narrative and financial

reports
31. Interim report to the Donor
32. Final report to the donor within three

months of completion

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY:

Activity description:

1. Community Assessment and Base line Survey: Conducting need assessment including

baseline survey and to collect detailed demographic information of Agrarian Reform

Beneficiaries of BACOMCO. The details will include information on the households and their

status in terms of functioning. The project will also identify existing vocational skills and local

alternative livelihood opportunities available in the target communities. The demographic

information will help to identify the needs of the ARB.

2. Formation & orientation OF ARBs. Initial meetings with community members to form 115

beneficiaries will be organised. Project staff will orient the beneficiaries about the need and

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benefits of forming a Sustainable Livelihood Enhancement for ARB’s. The agenda of the

Meetings will be to motivate beneficiaries from the target communities to organise for better

livelihood opportunities. The meetings will facilitate group formation and selection of key

members of the group such as President, Secretary and Treasurer.

3. Training on group dynamics to ARBs. Once the groups are formed, the project will begin

with training on the group dynamics and various techniques involved in managing the group. It

will organise trainings to all 115 beneficiaries. Roles and responsibilities of the groups will be

discussed and finalised during these trainings. Rules and monthly subscriptions by the members

will be decided during the trainings. These trainings will be organised at Project site at Buluan

and will include all Beneficiaries of BARCOMCO under DAR.

4. Training on leadership development: The training is crucial and identified as one of the

gaps in several studies conducted in community. The trainings will impart skills in leadership

development and management of the group. The trainings will be provided to key members of

all 115 ARBs.

5. Training on accounts and bookkeeping. Accounting and bookkeeping in the groups has

always been a challenge due to lack of education and literacy amongst the group members. The

project will impart training on basic bookkeeping procedure to selected members of the

BACOMCO. It will ensure that the groups will have at least one literate person and support her

in bookkeeping and accounting.

6. Refresher trainings to ARBs: The refresher trainings will aim to identify the gaps/challenges

in group dynamics, leadership and bookkeeping and address the same in participatory manner.

These trainings will be organised after completion of one year of group formation. The project

will adopt peer support approach viz. engaging successful ARBs to resolve the challenges of

other SHGs. Further the refresher trainings will provide additional inputs to the key members of

the group.

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7. ARBs exposure visits to other NGOs: Exposure visits to other successful ARBs will be

organised to newly formed ARBs. It will be useful for the members of new groups to understand

the functioning and benefit of ARBs.

8. Procurement of Quality seeds for paddy cultivation: Quality seeds units will be procured

and distributed to 115 ARBS.

9. Training on ARBs cultivation: Build technical skills in agriculture cultivation. The project

will engage external experts to organise the training and build the technical capacity of the

members.

10. Training on Organic Vegetable Cultivation: Trainings to be provided to 115 ARBs poor

farmers on organic vegetable cultivation with the support of Horticultural department. Training

to be provided to farmers.

11. Capital Support to Vegetable Cultivation : Capital support to be given 1500 farmers ( 115

ARBs) for purchase of seeds, tools , machinery and working capital support in collective

approach.

12. Training on Kitchen Garden : Training to be give to 115 ARBs on kitchen garden to

enhance their household level income in association with agricultural and horticultural

department.

13. Procurement of Vegetable seeds for Kitchen Garden : In order to increase the income

level of daily vegetable cultivation women, the project proposes to distribute small vegetable

kits. 115 vegetable kits will be procured and distributed to ARBs. The project will ensure that

the supplier provides proper demonstration to the beneficiaries to understand its usage.

14. Promotion of alternative livelihood opportunities: The project will use baseline and PRA

information to identify the existing alternate livelihood opportunities as well as vocational skill

building requirements. Few alternate livelihood opportunities such as dairy farm, goat rearing,

poultry farm, Community fair shops, leaf plate making, and other micro enterprises could be

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explored. However, the project will emphasise on the demand from the target groups with regard

to alternate livelihoods and support accordingly. Capital support to be given to the Executive

committees for purchase of cows, goats, establish community fair shops, leaf plate enterprise in

collective approach. 10% community contribution to be generated to enhance ownership and

sustainability on community based enterprises.

15. Vocational skill building on alternative livelihood opportunities: The project proposes to

organise skill building trainings, if needed, once the alternate livelihood opportunities are

identified and finalised by the groups. Specially the training to be organised dairy farm, goat

rearing, poultry farm, Community fair shops and leaf plate making.

16. Workshop on government livelihood entitlements: To increase knowledge on the existing

schemes available for ARBs. The project will involve officials from agricultural, horticultural

department and social welfare department of government of Sibugay as resource persons so as to

ensure accurate information about the entitlements. Two such workshops (one day each) are

planned involving key members from all 115 ARBs.

17. Seminar on Right to Information (RTI) Act. Right to Information Act is enforced by the

Government of Philippines, which provides the right to access any information from the

government authorities / department. The tool has been effective for an ordinary citizen to access

crucial information from the government. As part of women empowerment, the project will

organise a one day seminar for key ARBs to raise awareness on the Act and its usage.

18. Networking with financial institutions: To establish and increase micro-credit linkages for

ARBs. Apart from financial institutions, the project will coordinate with BACOMCO to get

information regarding the schemes and entitlements for women from the target communities.

19. Training on organisation development and management: The training will provide basic

understanding about the organisational dynamics, development and management. One training

(3 days duration) will be organised for all the office bearers as well as key members of the

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society. External technical experts will be hired to conduct the training.

20. Training on financial procedures and management to provide basic: understanding on

the financial management of the society. One training is planned and the duration of the training

will be two days. Training will include key people responsible for finance/accounts

management.

21. Networking for building marketing linkages. The main purpose of the society is to create

better marketing opportunities for the ARBs. The society will also make efforts to explore other

market avenues for selling ARBs related products. DAR will provide on-going technical support

to strengthen the society.

PHASE 6: PROJECT MONITORING AND CONTROL
Department of Agrarian Reform will commit to follow up the project from the moment work

has commenced and will send three-monthly reports to donor agency up until six months after

its termination. In addition, the project will establish a project monitoring plan based on the

project log frame for internal monitoring and evaluation purpose. The monthly activity plans

will be developed from the project monitoring plan. DAR will develop appropriate reporting

formats for collection of project information on a monthly basis. Monthly project review

meetings will be organised to review the progress and these meetings will be facilitated by the

Project Manager. Proceedings of each monthly review will be recorded and kept for future

reference. The Chief for Program Beneficiaries Development Division will undertake period

monitoring visits to the project area to interact with project beneficiaries, project staff and other

stakeholders on the progress. Besides, the project will form an executive committee consisting

of the following members:

 Executive Director of DAR which is the Chief For Project Beneficiaries Development

Division

 Project Manager DAR

 Livelihood Coordinator DAR

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  President of the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries

The executive committee will act as a nodal body for project monitoring and implementation.

Towards end of the project an external evaluation is planned by external resource person. The

Evaluation will assess the impact of the project within the project framework. It will also

Identify the gaps and provide recommendations to be considered for similar future projects. In

case, donor agency commits to undertake the external evaluation of the project, then the

project will reconsider the budget for the evaluation activity. However, DAR will appreciate

a communication in this regard.

PHASE 7: DISCLOSURE
The project aims to bring positive changes in the livelihood practices of Agrarian Reform

beneficiaries through promotion of groups. The livelihood opportunities / income generating

activities are identified considering the existing socio-cultural practices of the target

beneficiaries. The skill building measures are planned to improve the effectiveness of existing

livelihood practices. The project will not impose any practice that is locally unviable. The

behavioural and attitudinal changes brought in by the project among the beneficiaries will

empower them to actively participate in decision making processes at the community level. The

socio-cultural changes brought in by the project, in terms of livelihood practices, will have

lasting impact on the target beneficiaries even beyond the project period. The project will

significantly affect the lives ARB’s in their income generation activities, livelihood security and

self-employability. It will strengthen the target beneficiaries’ income generation opportunities

through tools and capacity building support. It is expected that the beneficiaries will continue the

livelihood practices, which directly contribute to increased family economy.

Further, the groups will continue to access resources from financial and government agencies

through the linkages created under the project. DAR plans to continue the project from income

generated from the BACOMCO and the external support received from government programmes

and other agencies. DAR will continue to play an active role to facilitate the them to strengthen

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strong links with government schemes and projects so as to generate the required assistance.

Internal income will be generated in form of membership fees, donations and revenue generated

from community based institutions. The project will promote BACOMCO with objective of

sharing information, conducting training, providing financial and non-financial services to its

members. The ARB, on the completion of the project, plans to rise own funds through

membership development fees, nominal fees charged for its services to the groups, benefit

events, grants from the government and donors. The revenue generated will cover the ARB’s

operating expenses as well as minimal support to the groups created under the project.

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