| 25 ARCs to benefit from Japan-funded development project |
The Department of Agrarian Reform has announced that 25 out of the 80 targeted agrarian reform communities (ARCs) will become definite beneficiaries under the Second Agrarian Reform Communities Development Project (ARCDPII). This developed after the government and the World Bank (WB) recently signed an agreement that will facilitate the release of $1.148 Million for the development and testing of innovative approaches for mainstreaming indigenous peoples (IPs) in selected ARCs that are part of ARCDPII. ARCs are cluster of barangays where land distribution is being completed and where there is convergence for services from the different agencies implementing the agrarian reform program. Agrarian Reform Secretary Rene Villa said funding for the project, which will run for two and a half years, was provided by the Japan Social Development Fund Grant. "It will be used mainly in projects integrating IPs in DAR activities," He said. The government was represented in the signing by Finance Secretary Juanita Amatong and WB by its country director Joachim von Amsberg.The project is expected to test innovative approaches for community-driven development undertaking involving indigenous people living inside and outside ancestral domain areas. The tested approaches are expected to initially benefit the communities covered by the grant," von Amsberg stressed. Agrarian Reform Undersecretary for Support Services Jose Mari Ponce explained that the grant assistance will be managed jointly by DAR through the ARCDPII central project office and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples. The grant assistance aims to improve the technical capacity of the project implementers and stakeholders in mainstreaming IP concerns in ARCs covered by ARCDPII. It also aims to design an appropriate incentive system for local government units in mainstreaming IP concerns in their development planning as well as prepare ancestral domain sustainable development and protection plans within ARCDPII sites," Ponce added. (source: TODAY by Rhodina J. Villanueva) |
