Having been graduated in the past two poverty fairs, this time, the provincial government embarks on the next phase - now, it's development projects in the show at the Bohol Cultural Center in October.
It serves as the next phase after the two annual Bohol poverty fairs successfully facilitated linkages with funding agencies for the different poverty reduction projects of the participating municipalities and the capital city.
The annual tradition was launched in October 2006 as Poverty Fair: A Marketplace of Poverty Reduction Initiatives.
The second chapter was on October 16-17, last year. Then the tentative schedule this year is October 17, but with the new banner, Bohol Development Fair.
In the event, the participating local government units (LGUs) put up booths at the cultural center where they can display the profiles of their development projects, then the potential funding institutions- -foreign and local- -will go around, assess them, and pick out which ones they would want to sponsor.
The Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) under the leadership of lawyer, John Titus Vistal, has been continuously coordinating with all the Municipal Planning and Development Offices (MPDOs) in coming up with impressive presentations of the projects.
The PPDO assists the MPDOs in drafting proposals of development projects for implementation in their respective municipalities.
These development projects have been designed to uplift the standard of living of townsfolk and further improve the economic activity in the rural areas of Bohol .
They also intend to sustain the amount of economic stability achieved throughout the years, as a result of the implementation of several poverty reduction projects.
The PPDO has created a provincial technical team (PTT) organized from among its technical staff.
"The PTT will be divided into sub-teams to assist and review project proposals generated by the LGUs under their respective assigned cluster of municipalities," according to PPDO.
In identifying committees, different steering and working committees were formed "to take charge of the necessary preparations under the responsibility of each concerned committee".
In the project identification and development, "members of the Municipal Poverty Reduction Action Teams (MPRATs) identify and develop project proposals using the LPRAP data of the municipality".
Technical personnel of NGOs operating in the municipality or cluster of municipalities also assist the MPRATs in the preparation of projects, according to PPDO. - Angeline Valencia