The Central Bicol State University of Agriculture, through the Extension Services Division (ESD), Gender and Development Office (GAD), Organic Agriculture Center (OAC) and Resiliency Center, collaborates with Adventist Development & Relief Agency (ADRA), a Canadian funded humanitarian organization whose working on social development through assisting vulnerable communities. This partnership is geared towards ensuring health-related human rights of adolescent girls, women, and under five years old girls and boys with increasing vulnerabilities in remote or settlement settings.
CBSUA will collaborate with ADRA on a 5-year project tagged as TOGETHER uniting TOwards Gender Equality for the enjoyment of women’s and girls’ Total Health and Rights through Organic Agriculture, Food Security, Livelihood, Gender and Development, and Disaster Risk Management. This project will be conducted in four countries around the globe, particularly in Cambodia, Kenya, Uganda, and the Philippines.
In the Philippines, the project will be carried out in five (5) municipalities in the Bicol Region, inclusive of Siruma, Garchitorena, Caramoan, Tigaon, and Buhi. Seventy-six (76) barangays with a total of five thousand seven hundred (5,700) households will be part of the project. CBSUA and ADRA Philippines will be closely working together in these municipalities to conduct several community development activities that will include Awareness-raising Campaigns and Capacity-building on Food Security, Health Nutrition, Livelihood, and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)
As an initial activity, a courtesy meeting at the Office of the University President, with the CBSUA President (Dr. Alberto N. Naperi) and the Vice President for Research and Innovation (Dr. Ramona Isabel S. Ramirez) was held last January 5, 2022. Hereafter, a coordination meeting was conducted at the Organic Agriculture Center. Present during the meeting were Dr. Vladimir Foronda-ESD Director, Glen Redecilla-GAD Director, Lily John Casimiro- OAC Director, and the ADRA Group headed by Ms. Lovely Joy G. Alvar-Manager of Project TOGETHER.
To better organize the implementation of the project, a presentation cum workshop of the Baseline Survey Results and Analysis to Key Partners and Stakeholders was held on February 28, 2022, at the Villa Caceres Hotel. The activity was spearhead by the ADRA Philippines. Delegates from CBSUA, includes Dr. Vladimir R. Foronda, Ms. Lily John Casimiro, and Mr. Glenn Redecilla, participated in the said activity.
