By
Johny S. Natad
Alegria,
Surigao del Norte, March 10 – The Biodiversity Partnerships Project (BPP)
investment specialist and product design specialist recently visited the four
Lake Mainit municipalities on March 4-5, 2014.
Vivian
Castillon, the BPP investment specialist met the LGU officials, employee and
peoples’ organization (POs) of the municipalities of Tubod, Alegria, Kitcharao
and Jabonga to validate the identified existing biodiversity-friendly business
enterprises and to determine needed supports of intervention.
“The
BPP is promoting biodiversity-friendly enterprise existing in the area and help
to determine the needed intervention to scale up the enterprise in order to match
it in the prevailing market,” Castillon emphasized.
Castillon
added that the visit also intend to determine existing skills of the POs on their
existing business enterprise. The enterprise identified should be enhanced and
the products should be value added. With this, the project aims to help the
existing enterprise enhance its design or improve the product packaging.
Along
with Castillon are the designing specialist from Design Center of the
Philippines like Ms. Ria Ann Legaspi, the senior industrial designer and Mr.
Jesus Dumilod, the junior researcher who identified necessary skills training
and product development to POs who engage their biodiversity-friendly
enterprises.
During
the visit, the participating POs presented their products mostly used of fabric
cloths and jean, bamboo, rattan, abaca, nito, agsam and water lily.
Based
on the colloquial conversation with the POs and the LGU representatives, the
team identified skills enhancement and product design development of the
participating POs who are engaging biodiversity-friendly enterprises as part of
the project support intervention.
