Having felt the economic and social changes in their lives brought by the development projects of Mindanao Trust Fund Reconstruction & Development Program (MTFRDP), beneficiaries from Sarangani Province expressed their deep gratitude to the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) and its donors.

Officers and members of the People’s Organizations (POs) from conflict affected communities of Sarangani province thanked the stakeholders behind the program during the 11^th Implementation Support Mission (ISM) on April 14-15, 2015.

ISM is an initiative that brings the beneficiaries face to face with donors where they can relate their experiences in project implementation, lessons learned and the projects’ economic and social impact to the community.

The ISM team comprised of representatives from the World Bank, European Union, and the MTFRDP Trust Fund Recipients namely Community & Family Services International (CFSI), the Mindanao Land Foundation (Minland) and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Saguerra Angkanan, PO leader of Barangay Maguling, Maitum said after receiving the agricultural facilities from MTFRDP, rice farmers in their community can plant rice at the same season. “If we are late in planting, more rats will infest our rice field,” she explained.

Officers of the PO in Lumasal, Maasim, Sarangani Province disclosed increase of income brought by the fishing vessel provided by the program in cycle 1.

Beneficiaries from the upland community of Lumasal thanked the program for providing access to potable water implemented for the cycle 2 which is still under construction.

Lumasal Barangay Chairman Eduardo Paras expressed his appreciation to the solar drier project for the farmers. “Without this solar drier, we are still drying corn at the highway which is very dangerous,” he revealed.

Corn is one of the major crops produced by the community.

The Indigenous People of Lun Masla, Malapatan also thanked the program for the spring development project in cycle 1.

Before the project, the constituents have to walk for almost half an hour to fetch water from a source. The program provided the beneficiaries with water supply few meter away from their houses.

“Now, our children can take a bath everyday before going to school,” a mother disclosed.

For the cycle 2 project, a level 3 water system is currently being constructed to benefit coastal residents of Lun Masla.

Same project is being implemented in a village in Barangay Tuyan, Malapatan where access to potable water is a major problem of the constituents.

The water system project beneficiaries cited the importance of clean water for their domestic use.

BDA SouthMin Regional Manager Mohalikin D. Piang reminded the beneficiaries to do their best to sustain their projects.

He said having a sustainable project is a “good showcase” that manifest the community’s readiness to handle more projects other development partners may bring in.

The program in implemented employing the Community Driven Development mechanism wherein the community members do the planning, identification, implementation and management of projects.

The BDA regional staff facilitates various capability-building trainings that capacitate PO officers and members for the effective and sustainable project implementation.

Beneficiaries said trainings provided by the program also strengthen unity among the PO officers and members.

MTF is fund facility administered by the World Bank and is supported by various donors such as the European Union (EU), DFAT Australia (then AusAID), DFATD Canada (then Canadian International Development Agency), New Zealand Aid for International Development, Sweden International Development Agency, and United States Aid for International Development (USAID).

The BDA determines, leads and manages relief, rehabilitation and development projects in the conflict-affected areas of Mindanao.