JICA completes capacity building program

A five-year capacity building program funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was concluded with the conduct of Forest Rangers Course last Aug. 3 to Sept. 2.

Packaged as "Philippines-Japan In-Country Training Program on Capacity Building for Sustainable Development on Forest Management", the program consisted of 10 courses, eight of which were of 30-day duration, that developed/harnessed the competencies of DENR’s technical staff in various facets of sustainable forest management.

It focused on vermi-composting and clonal propagation; green charcoal technology; forest regeneration; watershed management; forest biotechnology; propagation, maintenance and marketing of non-timber forest products; biodiversity assessment; and forest protection and extension.

The courses were successfully completed by JICA through the DENR’s human resource development service headed by director Adeluisa G. Siapno.

The program was also an extension of its support to its RP-Japan Forestry Development in Pantabangan Area (1976 to 1992), a project which occupies a special place in JICA’s development assistance efforts, as this was the first JICA-assisted project outside Japan, and one of its five successful projects in the world in the ’90s.

The project trained forestry specialists along reforestation and soil conservation, with showcases/learning laboratories developed in Pantabangan and Caranglan, Nueva Ecija. Also, preceding this program was "Aftercare Cooperation for RP-Japan Forestry Development Project" (1997-1999) which focused in forest regeneration and watershed management training courses.

JICA resident representative Osamu Nakagaki said a third-country training program (TCTP) will be implemented by DENR very soon. This TCTP would be community-based forest management and will be attended by representatives from Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos-PDR, and Vietnam. – Benny Enriquez