Text by Ma Isabela AC Agawin and Chelsea Dana Rapanot | Photo by Reena March Mercado
Xavier University through its Research and Social Outreach (RSO) cluster frontlined the Cagayan de Oro Social Development Day with the theme “Trailblazing Kagayanons’ Engagements in Local Governance Towards Social Development” at Kiosko Kagawasan (Golden Friendship Park), Plaza Divisoria on April 14, Tuesday.
The purpose of the event is to implement the project dubbed as “Providing Social Accountability Intervention to Foster Constructive Engagement of Stakeholders in Local Government Affairs of CDO,” supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF).
“The Social Development Day packaged different civil society organizations to present their initiatives on the social development of the city,” said Ma Farina Roa, secretariat for the CDO People’s Council and issue advocacy program officer of Kristohanong Katilingban sa Pagpakabana – Social Involvement Office (KKP-SIO).
The goal of this event was to consolidate and strengthen various initiatives of civil society organization. The organizers also wanted to form a body for the people to have a voice to raise awareness for the development of the city.
The grand launch of the CDO People’s Council also highlighted the issues in the development agenda: food security, peace and order, environment, health, and governance.
In attendance to the said celebration were 44 support groups from various non-government organizations (NGOs), academic institutions, church-based organizations, business groups, student organizations, among others.
XU-RSO serves as the secretariat for the CDO People’s Council, simultaneously responsible to call for meeting and gatherings of the council members to organize and conduct budget plans before presenting a project to the City Council.
The Valuing Ecosystem Services Together (VEST) project of XU also took part in the event. VEST is a social marketing arm for the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in Mt Kalatungan which acts as a “payment cycle” designed to protect our forest in the highlands of Mindanao so that when it rains, the water will not be devastating by the time it reaches urbanized areas such as CDO.
Part of this green endeavor is to mainstream the principles of PES/VEST through a slew of activities to encourage Kagay-anons to participate in the fund drive to rehabilitate Mt Kalatungan and reward the efforts of the indigenous people community as the forest managers.