BAGUIO CITY – Designated reporting officers of the Department of Agriculture Cordillera (DA-CAR) underwent a briefing and training from the Project Monitoring and Evaluation Division (PMED) of the DA that seeks to establish an effective monitoring and evaluation system of projects implemented by the agency.
In the Basic Monitoring Training for Officers held at the DA, PMED Chief Susan Balanza explained the training will assist the designated report officers on identifying other important information areas of reporting where current reports have not identified, but is critical in the implementation of projects.
“This is the start of a series of trainings for designated report officers coming from the banner programs, division, section, and units so that DA-CAR can create a collective and consolidated system of reports regarding planning, monitoring, and evaluation of projects that will capture most if not majority of the information the department needs,” Balanza said.
PMED is responsible for all planning, monitoring, and evaluation functions of the Regional Field Office, including its management information system services.
It also undertakes the following activities as Secretariat of the Civil Society Organization (CSO) Accreditation, Regional Agriculture and Fishery Council, Technical Assistance on ACEF, Regional Convergence Initiative , IPlan Component of the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP), Regional Development Council (RDC)-Sectoral Committee on Economic Development, aside from other activities assigned by the Regional Executive Director.
“Actual table-top activities will be undertaken by the designated report officers regarding project monitoring and evaluation starting next year, the objective is for the agency to be able to establish a unified system of reporting of projects being implemented by the department,” Balanza added.
The sections under PMED are the Planning and Programming Section which is responsible for the preparation and updating of the Agriculture and Fishery Modernization and Industrialization Plan, the annual plan and budget of all operating units, and the Agriculture and Fishery Profile, aside from preparation of the Budget Execution Document (BED) for programs and projects; the Monitoring and Evaluation Section responsible for monitoring the physical and financial performance of DA programs and projects, conducting monitoring and tracking activities, and performing impact evaluations initiated by the DA-Central Office; and the Information and Communication Technology Unit responsible for maintaining IT facilities in the region and research stations, aside from developing and maintaining the Management Information System (MIS) for agency reports, programs, activities, and administrative functions.
The key projects and initiatives include joint planning exercise, presentation of plan and budget proposal to RDC and CSOs, BEDs Preparation, monitoring and tracking of programs/projects, performance review/ assessment, impact evaluation of programs/projects, updating of profile and georeferencing under the RSBSA, maintenance of MIS, and CSO Accreditation. By JTLlanes
