C.VISAYAS(REG.VII)RU

closed

The Central Visayas Regional Project is the first in the Philippines to support a Regional Development Investment Program. The project aims, initially on a pilot scale, to improve the incomes and living standards of some 14,600 participant families, about 90,000 people, in five watersheds of Central Visayas by offering them security of tenure over their land, through an innovative land stewardship program, and associated improved production systems in agro-forestry and nearshore fisheries. The project will also reinforce the Government's regionalization program as part of its evolving, long-term decentralization policy. The project will finance programs of: (a) watershed management in upland agriculture; (b) social forestry; (c) nearshore fisheries; and (d) infrastructure (mainly rural roads and trails to provide access to the sites). Associated support services will include strengthening the Regional Offices of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Natural Resources, training and technical assistance, and applied agro-forestry research. The preparation of additional regional projects will also be supported. About 70 of project costs apply directly to the productive components of the project including infrastructure; 30 generate benefits region-wide, or in other regions.