INTRODUCTION

A. Background

The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1998 (Republic Act 6657) mandated the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to, among other things, provide vital development support services in a coordinated manner to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs). These services include, but are not limited to, assistance to farm- and non-farm based production, credit support, capacitating of existing and creation of new farmer organizations, investments in physical infrastructure and other rural access facilities, and provision of market linkaging support, all of which were geared towards enabling ARBs cross the poverty threshold and realize the benefits of socio-economic upliftment in a continuous and sustainable manner. A support services office within DAR was subsequently created to directly handle the provision of support services to identified beneficiaries in areas covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme (CARP).

Strategic Operating Provinces (SOPs) were initially adopted as the spatial planning units for delivery of vital support services. However, it was soon recognized that such an approach had inherent drawbacks: it lacked geographical focus as the vast physical expanse of provinces tended to disperse DAR’s resources in the field rather thinly, thus dissipating the impact and envisaged benefits of support services on ARBs in the process. To obviate this problem, the DAR shifted its approach to support services delivery by adopting the Agrarian Reform Community (ARC) approach in 1993. In stark contrast to the previous approach, the ARC philosophy attempts to concentrate and consolidate the resources and efforts of DAR and partner CARP Implementing Agencies in support services delivery as well as in land distribution, in a barangay or a cluster of contiguous barangays which host a critical mass of ARBs. By focus targeting the delivery of support services in a defined geographical area, the ARC approach envisions to facilitate improvements in farm and non-farm productivity and enhance ARBs’ capabilities to transform themselves into viable entrepreneurs in the countryside.

The adoption of the ARC development strategy has invariably increased the demand for provision of support services in the ARCs. The approach has, likewise, since its inception, garnered the confidence and support of the donor community due to its conceptual soundness, manageability in terms of scale, and the use of participatory techniques to project identification and implementation. The confluence of these factors has resulted in DAR’s mobilization of Official Development Assistance (ODA) resources on a massive scale for the implementation of foreign-assisted projects (FAPs) focused on support services provision. From a solitary FAP (i.e. the EU-assisted Agrarian Reform Support Project) in 1996, DAR’s portfolio of FAPs has significantly increased over a six-year period. It now has a complement of 13 projects in its FAPs portfolio funded by various donors. In financial terms, this translates to about a total of P 40.36 B so far mobilized by the DAR since 1992. ODA resources constitute the bulk of this amount, accounting for about 72% or approximately P 29.17 B.

The multitude of complexities and challenges associated with the management, supervision, and execution of an increasing number of FAPs has been the underlying rationale for strengthening and streamlining existing systems within DAR for coordinating the execution, management and integration/mainstreaming of FAPs into the regular operations of the DAR at all levels. This provided the imperative for the creation of the Foreign-Assisted Projects Office (FAPsO) of the DAR. It was created in February 1998 through Memorandum Circular No.4. Its creation and mandate is in response to the need to synchronize project activities of FAPs with the regular activities of the Department, and to enhance coordination and efficient management in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all DAR-FAPs.

The importance of an autonomous unit within DAR such as the FAPsO catering solely to the supervision and management of FAPs is further highlighted in the light of recent developments that essentially involved further shifts in the approach to support services delivery to ARBs. Cognizant of the limited reach of the ARC strategy (only about 25% of the target number of ARBs have benefited from FAPs and non-FAPs interventions almost 10 years after its adoption), DAR management embarked on two new approaches in support services delivery: the Bayan-Anihan Agrarian Reform Zone (BARZone) Development Strategy in 2002, which was subsequently replaced by the Kalahi Agrarian Reform Zone Development Program in 2003. Both approaches expand the geographical as well as social reach of support services delivery by including areas outside of, but adjacent to the ARCs as well as their constituent farmers, with respect to functional/spatial, institutional, and cultural aspects to form an integrated economic unit. Both strategies underpin greater demand for support services delivery in the countryside that translates to more formidable challenges for the FAPsO in terms of a broader and intensified pace of resource mobilization from various donor sources.