San Jose dB to push for gender responsive land administration and management

San Jose de Buenavista was chosen as one of the two pilot local government unit in the Philippines to implement the Strengthening Capacities for Gender Responsive Land Administration and Management, Land Tenure Improvement and Tax Administration Project.

In line with the project, a training workshop on integrating gender and development (GAD) in land administration and management (LAM) was conducted.

A gender assessment of the existing land administration policies, systems and procedures, and the Comprehensive Land Use Plan of San Jose de Buenavista was conducted which resulted to the development of short-term action plan for integrating gender in land administration and management.

The training-workshop was attended by key land administration personnel of the LGU (such as the Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator, Municipal Assessor, Municipal Treasurer, Municipal Environment and ) and national government agencies (Department of Agrarian Reform and Department of Environment and Natural Resources), GAD focal person of the LGU and NGAs, and representatives of relevant organizations.

Partners from the provincial government (Provincial Assessor's Office, Provincial Planning and Development Office) also attended the training.

The GAD project is a grant funded by the Asian Development Bank and hopes to promote equal rights of women and men to access, use and own land.

The other pilot LGU is Bayawan City, Negros Oriental.

Farmville hosts training on food processing for women

San Jose LGU's Farmville hosted a three-day training on food processing and fishery product development.

The training was organized by the Municipal Agriculture Office of San Jose de Buenavista,  under the helm of OIC-Municipal Agriculture Officer Florante Q. Moscoso, in partnership with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources - Regional Fisheries Training Center.

Participants of the training were from barangays San Pedro and Mojon. They were women who are already into cooking and food processing and were identified through their punong barangays.

San Pedro and Mojon were chosen for there is no existing Rural Improvement Club (RIC) organized in the area.

The technology transfer training aims to increase productivity of the agri-fishery sector and encourage self-sustained growth. At the same time, aims to organize the women into an RIC.

Aside from learning different methods and principles of preservation and processing of various farm products, the participants were taught gender and development concepts and issues and were introduced to basic entrepreneurship.

Farmville is a one-hectare demo farm of the municipal government, located in Sitio Lugutan of San Pedro, using the Integrated Framing Approach and focused on organic farming. It is a venue for learning and center of technology transfer for farmers and students.