Fisherfolk Association Strengthening

Emily Megin- Peace Corps Volunteer

San Lorenzo, Guimaras
Review of MFARMC functions
Assist in the municipal fisheries development plan

Recommend the enactment of municipal fisheries ordinances to the sagguniang

bayan

Assist in the enforcement of fisheries laws, rules, and regulations in municipal waters

Advise the sagguniang bayan on fisheries matters

Submit to the LGU a list of priorities for consideration

Assit the LGU in maintaining a registry of municipal fishing vessels and fishing gears
 In turn, LGU will consult
MFARMC about:
The management, conservation, development, utilization, and disposition of all fish
and aquatic resources within municipal waters

The enactment of municipal ordinances

License fees of fisheries activities

Any establishment of catch limits or closed seasons

Establishment of zones for construction of fish pends, cages, and other structures

Recommendation of portions of municipal waters to be declared as marine reserves or

protected areas

Establishment of post-harvest facilities

Community Organizing
 MOTIVATION
ACTIVITY: WHY SHOULD FISHERFOLK JOIN YOUR ASSOCIATION?
 Goals of community organizing
 Increase the community’s awareness of the condition of their environment;

 Develop a sense of ownership over coastal resources

 Prepare the community for participation (CRM process) and decision-making

 Strengthen the community’s capability to access funds to support socioeconomic projects

 Enable the community to form alliances for advocacy and sharing of technologies

 Build and sustain organizational structures for CRM

 Develop fisherfolk association’s
VISION & MISSION
This sets future goals for the association and allows the community
members to feel a sense of ownership and responsibility within the
association

Take 30 minutes to review & update your association’s vision

Do you have one?
Do the members know about it is?
Is it posted somewhere everyone can see?
Do you have an action plan to accomplish this vision?
Running effective meetings
A Good Meeting
Has…
A CLEAR agenda

Specific OBJECTIVES

Ground Rules

A suitable meeting location

MOTIVATED attendees

Strong LEADERSHIP
Example of fisherfolk meeting
agenda
Welcome remarks

Review of previous meeting

Updates about projects

Special topics i.e. Christmas parties, upcoming trainings, review of municipal

ordinances

Fish catch data collection

Plan for next monthly meeting

Other matters
 Objectives:
Objectives are the takeaways from a meeting
Todays objectives:
Review of MFARMC functions
Understanding the goals of community organizing
Suggestions to running an effective meeting
Action planning
 People will only come to
your meeting if they
know about it
If sending invitations they should include
Meeting time & date
Location
Agenda

Establish REGULAR meeting times for consistency

Follow ups 24-48 hours before the meeting to ensure your

members come
Ground Rules
Are set at the beginning of the
meeting

Ground rules should be chosen by

the group , and agreed upon

The ground rules should be posted

for future reference

The leader can remind the

attendees of the ground rules at
any time
Example Ground Rules:
 Arrive on time

 Only one person speaks at a time

 Be an active listener

 No cellphone use

 Stay on topic

 Be Positive

 Do not distract others

 Etc.
 ACTIVITY: write down some
ground rules for your associations
 Starting the the
Meeting
The Leader should:
Introduce themselves
Discuss the objective of the meeting
Review the agenda
Ask the attendees if any changes to the
agenda are necessary
Assign someone to take notes
Ensure “Other matters” is placed on the
agenda to avoid distractions during the
agenda
 Taking of Minutes

Minutes are to used to record:

Who was in attendance

What was discussed

What decisions were made

Minutes should be retained for the official record

Minutes may not be required, depending on the type of meeting

Capturing Action Items:
An Action Item is any task assigned to any attendee/staff/or
resource person

Details of an action item include:

What - is needed
Who - will do it
When - will it be completed
How – what action will they take
For example: PRDP is holding a seaweed processing training on
September 20-24
Who from the association will attend?
What should they do to prepare?
How will they share their obtained knowledge with the group?
 EXAMPLE
ENERGIZER
 Disruptions or disruptive
behavior during the
meeting cannot be
tolerated

Examples of Disruptive
Behavior:
Talking over other
attendees
Multiple conversations at
the same time
Using cellphones

Dealing with The organizer must stop the

meeting, and review the
Disruptions ground rules
 Conflicts
The purpose of meetings is to discuss issues
without conflicts

Disagreements are OK, but arguments should

be avoided

Attendees that bring a personal conflict to a

meeting shall be reminded of the ground rules
 Group #1 – Two attendees are arguing
about the workload. John says that Donald
is lazy. John calls Donald’s house to inform
Conflict him of meetings, but Donald says he never
gets the information. John says that
Donald’s wife is causing the problem.
Role Play Donald doesn’t like John blaming his wife.

Group #2 – Oscar attends every meeting,

but always takes control from the meeting
Task: Come up with leader. He spends the whole time talking,
2 ways to deal with and arguing with other meeting attendees,
insisting that his idea is correct, and they
these conflicts are stupid.
Closing the meeting
The meeting organizer shall review all
decisions made, and action items
assigned

Attendees should be asked: “What

Worked”, “What Didn’t Work”, and
“What Can We Do Better” at the next
meeting

The meeting should not be closed until

the next meeting is scheduled
 BEST PRACTICES
What is your association’s best practices you would like to share with the
group so that all the associations can be stronger?
 DISCUSSION
What support do you need (if any) to make your respective fisherfolk
association more actively involved?
 REVIEW OF MUNICIPAL
ORDINANCES
More awareness = better fisheries practices
Please review information about the municipal ordinances with the
members of your association
 Action Plan Time
Please take 30 minutes to come up with your fisherfolk association’s action
plan on how to make your association stronger
Examples include:
creating a monthly meeting time & location
Expanding the association so more members will join
Collecting monthly dues for snacks
Forming groups within the association to be responsible for pamahaw
Taking on a new project as an association like a mangrove nursery or
monthly coastal cleanups before meetings
Updating fish catch data collection
Madamo gid nga salamat